SERPENTIS
by ScarlettsMir
Summary: "Rude, aren't you," she hissed, feeling the tears prick the back of her eyes. "A filthy little mudblood, am I?" 7 years of Hogwarts journey of Hermione Granger, a girl mistakenly sorted into the wrong house. And sometimes, the Sorting Hat liked to play jokes, if only to ease his infinite boredom. [A Slytherin!Hermione fanfiction. DRAMIONE & Golden Trio Centric] *Art by ScarlettsMir
1. Ignis Fatuus

**01**

 **ignis fatuus**

 _Foolish fire_

A bushy haired girl stared hard at the platforms of the station, hoping to find a glimmer of light- a sparkle- or just about anything to prove she had not been played a bad joke. She knew magic was real, she had visited Diagon Alley herself and had spent hours trying to absorb everything about this supposedly new world. With her random outbursts of magic occurring at the most untimely situations, she had felt rather dumbfounded that she had not been able to draw the answer; gift of magic.

Hermione Granger, at the age of five and camping in the Forest of Dean, had followed the will-o'-the-wisps with utter fascination, cooing at them until she found herself being snatched up into her daddy's arms.

On her seventh birthday party, she had relighted her birthday candles. The incident led into couple of girls shrieking in fear and confusion, and boys asking her to light them again.

During year five of primary school, she had accidentally turned the hair color of her bully into what was a shocking shade of bubblegum pink. She had thought, with a confused but satisfied wonder, that he had deserved it.

But as she had no logical reasoning to provide an answer to her abnormalities she had just simply ignored them, until a certain tabby cat rang the front bell of her house.

A cat. Ringing a doorbell.

At first Hermione had thought she must be dreaming, oh, she really must refrain herself from staying up all night to read. Her parents had seemed to think the same and had stood warily in front of the door, where on the other side sat a cat continuously ringing a doorbell.

Curiosity got the best of her and she had already opened the door before her parents could protest. The cat had leaped into the sitting room with a graceful jump, calmly placing herself on the sofa before it flicked its tail, almost as if beckoning them to sit.

Bewildered, the Granger family had sat down on the opposite side of where the cat sat, which fixed its unwavering eyes at Hermione.

Making sure to cast a few wandless, wordless silencing charm around the house, the tabby cat proceeded to transform itself into its original form.

"What-" Mr Granger exclaimed, "just what in the world-?"

Minerva McGonagall tucked a few loose strands of black hair back into her hairdo and gave them a professional smile. "Good afternoon, Mr and Mrs Granger, and of course, Miss Granger. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the deputy headmistress and a professor of Hogwarts."

When the professor received nothing but blank stares she continued, "I am here to notify you personally of Miss Granger's acceptance to our school. I am pleased to tell you that Miss Granger had been noted for her unusual display of magic, and-"

"Magic?" Hermione interrupted, "what I did until now was magic?"

The black haired woman crinkled her eyes with amusement in the most minuscule way possible, "yes, yes I do hope so."

"And what and where would be this magical school?" Mrs Granger jumped straight into the newly bestowed information. She and her husband had known their daughter was not the most normal child, but magic was the last thing she'd have thought of.

With a flick of a strange looking stick, the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry materialised a crisp parchment envelope.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

 _(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear Miss. Granger,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

 _Deputy Headmistress_

"Owls?"

"In the wizarding world, owl system is used for mailing," the professor explained. "I'd like to explain more, but I am afraid I'm running rather late on time today. I have more letters to deliver to muggle-born students, you understand." McGonagall guilelessly turned herself back into her animagus form, blinking up at the Granger family through her green eyes.

"Then professor-," Hermione tried again, "where am I to find all these supplies?"

"Do not fret, Ms Granger, I was just about to inform. Tomorrow at half one, you will meet me on Charing Cross Road, London," the professor, now cat, meowed. "You will find me in this exact appearance, in front of a broken-down shop between a bookshop and a record store."

"How much money will she need?" Mrs. Granger asked. If her shelves of fictional novels were anything to go by, the currency would be different in the other world.

"At least 60 pounds is what I recommend, Mrs Granger. It would be nice for Miss Granger to have a Gringotts vault of her own."

"What are Galleons-"

"Now, as I have said before, I really must be going," the tabby cat pounced down from the sofa. "Miss Granger, you will be explained about other aspects of our world when other students like you arrive at the meeting spot."

Without giving the dumbfounded family a second glance, the cat had tapped the floor wood twice with her paw and vanished into thin air with a soft _plunk_.

Hermione felt her lips stretch into a smile as she remembered the day she first visited Diagon Alley. She had been immediately impressed with the view, cherishing each moment of her time spent there as she hungrily memorized each and every view of the place. It had been purely euphoric, she had skipped along with her equally fascinated soon-to-be-classmates as if she were on clouds, unwilling to let her feet sink into the ground for more than necessary.

It had been a significant turning point of her dull life, a life of mean school bullies who always liked to tease her and her hair that apparently had the same display as the fur of a mangy old cat.

Shaking her head out of her reminiscence, Hermione continued to pace around the space between platform nine and ten. Her parents had to go to work, so she had told them she would be fine all on her own. But now in her present predicament, she half wished her parents had stayed with her. Failure was not a synonym to her name, but it was only the first day of school, and she was already failing.

Looking down to the cart full of her new school supplies, she frowned. Clearly, she had either missed out on the directions or had remembered them incorrectly- highly unlikely- but she had to access her current problem realistically.

No matter how many times she paced back and forth the two platforms, she could not, for the life of her, find the platform nine and three-quarters. She swallowed a frustrated cry that threatened to climb up her throat, and looked around her surroundings.

From far, she saw a big blob of orange coming to her direction, and as it got closer to her, she found that it was a group of family, all with the same hair color. Hermione saw four of the boys were pushing similar carts similar to hers, and she longed to ask for directions, but quickly stopped herself just in case they were muggles. When she scanned her peripheral vision once more, her brown eyes locked onto a pair of green eyes of a black haired boy.

With a startling jolt, she quickly dug around her head and memories of books of the wizarding world she had already read and came to the conclusion the boy with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead she was now staring at was indeed, the boy who lived.

Hermione broke her gaze as she caught one of the many red headed man suddenly disappear from the side of her frontal view. Bewildered, she quickly looked to see where he had vanished to, and found Harry Potter sporting a similar expression. Their eyes caught again, and silent agreements were made as they decided to approach the large family.

"Mum," the youngest member of the ginger pulled on her mother's skirt and whispered, "people keep staring at us."

"Don't be silly, Ginny dear, Daddy and I were extra cautious to cast the muggle repelling charm."

"No, look," the girl named Ginny pointed to Hermione and Harry, who now were taking unsure steps together towards the family.

Hermione noticed the remaining clan tensing as what she was sure to recognize as fear of being caught talking about magic and hurried to ease them. "Excuse me, ma'am, um, I was wondering-" she faltered in mid-speech as the rest of the family turned to look at her. The black haired boy standing next to her caught the hint.

"Uh, yes, well-" he stammered, "the thing is, we don't know how to, uh-"

"Get on platform nine and three-quarters, dears?" The motherly woman asked with an understanding voice. "Well, Ronnie here is also new with this so why don't you all have a go together?"

"Mum," the boy named Ron let out an exasperated sigh. "Don't call me Ronnie-"

"Well then, _Ronniekins_ , and you dearies, can watch Fred and George go." The woman told them before pointing to one of the very identical looking twin, "George, would you go first?"

"Woman, at least get our names right!"

"Sorry, Fred dear."

"Only joking, I am George," the twin snickered wildly before running full force at the wall between the two platforms, his cart squeaking loudly with every step he took.

Both Hermione and Harry visibly flinched as George neared the barrier, but their eyebrows rose up to meet their hairlines when the twin suddenly _went through_ the brick wall. They shared a look that only meant one thing; amazing, and waited for the smallest red haired boy to pull his cart next to them.

Without even bothering to introduce themselves to each other, they nodded together, determined to get to the platform on their first try.

"On the count of three," Ron said, "one… two…"

"THREE!" All three of them let out an passionate yell as they pushed their carts forward with all their might. Hermione wanted to stop any moment and tell them she just couldn't bring herself to slam into a wall, but she continued to run past and her cart's wheels continued to roll. She slowly peeled her eyes open, and saw the huge and beautiful red train.

"PERCY! FRED! GEORGE! RON!" A voice yelled from behind them, "THE TRAIN IS LEAVING SOON, HURRY UP AND GET ON THE TRAIN!" The kind woman's nostrils still slightly trembling after her bellowing, she turned to the trio.

"Oh, where are my manners," she quickly walked toward them, "Hello, dears. My name is Molly Weasley."

Ron grinned, "Ron Weasley."

"Hermione Granger, pleased to meet you Mrs Weasley and Ron."

"Thank you for helping us out there Mrs Weasley," the remaining boy said. "Nice to meet you, my name is Harry Potter."

All of them heard the not-so-veiled gasp from behind the Weasley matriarch's skirt folds. "Are you really-"

Ginny's squeaks were cut short by the loud steam noise from the train. "Hurry, or you will have to go next year with Ginny!" The small girl started to sniffle, using her mother's skirt to wipe her tears which seemed pointless as thick tears kept clustering around her bronze eyes.

"Well, go along now," Molly said, giving the newly met eleven year olds a nudge. "You should go before Ginny starts crying even more."

"Like that's possible," Hermione heard Ron mutter, "she already manages to flood our living room with her tears."

Harry snickered slightly, softening them when his eyes wandered over to the crying girl. "Ginny, was it?" Harry asked.

The the gingerette blushed in an interesting shade of crimson and nodded.

"I should thank you for noticing us," Harry said as he pointed to himself and Hermione. "Otherwise, I really might have had to go to Hogwarts next year." Despite being only a year older than her, he gave Ginny a friendly pat on her head.

Hermione suppressed a smile as she saw Ginny fumbling with her hands, her blush now even a darker shade of red than her hair.

"Bloody hell, can we get going already?" Ron rolled his eyes before getting on the train and pushing his way in through the hoard of people.

After teary goodbyes through the open windows and kisses Ron tried to evade from without success, the trio wandered down the aisle trying to secure a compartment for themselves.

* * *

It seemed like every compartment was filled, but at last they found an empty one near the back of the train. It took them ten minutes of suddenly birthed air of awkwardness, but all was dissolved when Ron pointed to Harry's Scar.

"So do you remember that, or what?"

"Seeing as he was only a year old, of course he wouldn't," Hermione commented in an important voice. She saw the red haired boy roll his eyes and she felt a twitch of shame as she realised she did it again. The bossy know-it-all attitude she was constantly teased for during her junior school years.

With a thornless tone, Harry explained about his living situations until now, and so therefore no, he did not know anything, much less did he remember about his parents' death.

She saw Ron sink back into his cushioned seat with a guilty look, and felt her previous embarrassment wash away and a newly found satisfaction replacing it. However, she stopped herself from making a catty remark.

As the clock clicked half past twelve, she noticed Ron staring at her and Harry as they paid for their sweets, the latter buying few of every kind available on the candy cart. Meekly, Ron unwrapped a sandwich letting out a low groan as he realised the kind, "Mum forgets I hate corned beef."

"I'll trade you some pumpkin pastries for one," offered Hermione, ignoring his questioning gaze. "I rather like corned beef, and I bought these to share."

"Yeah," agreed Harry. "Never had a friend to share food before, so come on, take one."

As they ate from their little smorgasbord, they found out what they had in common and what they didn't. They were all looking forward to school, mainly because all of them had not had much friends in their previous education.

She found out that Ron, whose name was actually Ronald Bilius Weasley, but hated being called by Ronald as he was only called that before being yelled at by his mum.

When she had learned Ron had five brothers before him, she and Harry shared a surprised look. "It's only my parents and I," she had said.

"Must've been lonely," said Ron, his mouth sticky with chocolate frogs.

"It wasn't all too bad."

They continued to share about themselves until a round faced boy barged into their compartment, named Neville, asking if they had seen a toad.

"Sorry," they said. Hermione wished to help the poor boy find his pet, but she was dragged back down by Ron when she rose to follow Neville out for his hunt for his toad.

"I saw him lose his toad before he got on the train, he'll be losing it a few more times today I think," said the boy. "You'll be wasting your time."

Hesitant, she sat down on her seat. "Do either of you know what House you'll be in?"

"Gryffindor," Ron replied almost immediately. "All of my family come from Gryffindor. Harry?"

"I just hope they don't kick me out after realising it was a mistake to accept me," said Harry.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You've been written in _Modern Magical History_ , _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_ , and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ , really, do I need list more?"

The two boys blinked stupidly at her, causing her to gasp in half-joking horror."Goodness, don't tell me both of you haven't read these, they were on the bestseller booth at Flourish and Blotts!"

Hermione let out a sigh. "Harry, you should've tried to find out more about yourself. Honestly, were you not curious about this world at all?" She did not give him a chance to defend himself before chattering away, "you're famous! And I've read Hogwarts was a public school if we go by muggle standards, and keeping a big name like you in school guarantees best images!"

"Uhm, then I think I'll go with Gryffindor," Harry said, slightly intimidated by her.

"Good choice, mate, I heard your parents were both Gryffindors, too," said Ron.

"They were," Hermione confirmed. "Your father came from a Gryffindor family, so I think you'll be sorted one, too."

Ron turned to her, "How about you? Where are you hoping?"

"Glad you asked, I'm also aiming for Gryffindor," she told him. "Or maybe Ravenclaw, but I definitely don't want to be a Hufflepuff. I'd rather be classified by my intellect."

"Big lot of duffers," Ron commented, "seeing how much you obsess over books, Hermione, I doubt you would even be granted to walk near the Hufflepuff table."

"I bet I'm going to be a Hufflepuff," Harry again commented with a depressed voice.

"Still better than Slytherin, yeah?"

Hermione raised a knowing eyebrow. "Merlin was a Slytherin, you know?"

"So was You-know-who," Ron argued back. "ONE decent bloke out of that house, and you take the snakes' side."

She resisted the urge to give her eyes a generous roll. "I'm not taking sides, and besides I don't want to belong in that house anyway," she wrinkled her nose. "All I was trying to say was that you shouldn't be so prejudiced to other houses-"

The door of their compartment slid open, and a pale faced boy came in with his two friends tailing him from behind. The boy had a pointed chain, which was surprisingly becoming, accompanied by his almost-platinum blond hair and his grey eyes. She could feel her eyes lingering on the boy a second longer than she would've liked to.

"We've met before, Harry Potter," the blond offered. "Name's Draco Malfoy."

Hermione cast a puzzling look at Ron as he coughed a tad too loud to be a sincere one.

The boy named Malfoy quickly turned his lips down and sneered. "Oh, no need telling who you are, the Weasleys are famous for their red hair, freckles and having too many children than they can afford."

"So rude-" Hermione began as the ginger boy infront of her turned into the shade his sister had been when Harry had petted her head. Gone were her previous observation of his appearance, bringing back her flashes of the bullies at her previous school. "I would've thought eleven was more than enough years to learn manners, but you appear to prove me wrong-"

"And who might you be?" Draco Malfoy taunted, "A blood traitor girlfriend for a blood traitor boyfriend?"

"For your information, whatever a blood traitor is-"

Draco narrowed his eyes. Hermione could feel him scrutinizing her appearance, and she made a subconscious movement to pull her buckteeth back even just a little bit.

"You don't know what a blood traitor is," he repeated her and slowly took menacing steps toward her. "You've not been raised by a magic family?"

Hermione's eyes darted back to Ron and Harry, wondering what the deal was. Ron looked flustered whether by Malfoy's previous attack on his family or the current one on her, and Harry looked as confused as she felt. She saw Ron discreetly nudge Harry and being ever the fast one to catch on, Harry quickly stood up from his spot.

"I wasn't raised by a magic family, either, so I don't get what your deal is Malfoy," he said.

The pale boy turned to him with an intense look in his stone-grey eyes. "You were born into one, Potter," he said coldly. "You," he pointed his chin at Hermione, "what is your last name?"

"None of your business, is it?" Standing slightly in front of her, Ron growled. "All Malfoys get into Slytherin House, so you won't be seeing her, much less learn her name."

"Unfortunately for you, _Weasley_ ," Draco drawled, "all houses have joint classes, and I will be damned if I let a girl of her background roam the Hogwarts castle as if she owns the place."

Hermione snorted, "Hogwarts is not yours either."

"Ah, but you see, my father is one of the governors-"

Percy, the oldest Weasley on the train wisely choose that moment to come into their compartment. "We're nearing the school, so first years, get changed into your robes." The red haired man scowled at the intruding three. "Go back to your own seats, or I will be forced to make you."

With a hardening glare, Malfoy drew his lips back at Hermione, almost snarling. "Fine brother you have, Weasley," he said to Ron who flared up in anger once more. "Well, I must be going, and I look forward to see you all three being sorted."

Hermione thought she could hear the blond boy mutter something as he passed by her, but she couldn't quite catch what. Deciding not to give it too much thought, she quickly turned to thank the older Weasley. "Thank you, it really was getting tiring dealing with them. My name's Hermione Granger."

"I know, I was patrolling around the train and I heard you three," Percy said indifferently. "Again, get changed quickly and make sure to follow the prefects."

"Oh, were you a _prefect_ , Percy? Never knew you know?" Ron's voice dripped with sarcasm.

As Percy strutted down the aisle to inform other students, the three newly-befriended eleven year olds quickly put their black Hogwarts robes on.

Hermione already felt their earlier clash with Malfoy webb away. Her excitation for the new semester of studying magic was far too great to be drowned by his rudeness.

As the train slowly came to a stop and she grabbed her trunk to move out of the compartment, she felt Ron's hand grasp her wrist and halting her. "Listen, Hermione," he said. "Don't go openly saying you are a muggle-born."

"Why?" Hermione frowned, there were already a handful of students who knew her birth, having gone to Diagon Alley together.

"Just don't," he said. "Not if you can help it."

She nodded. She had more important things to think about than her permittance of discussing her origin.

* * *

Hermione could practically feel her nervous waves of expectation roll off from her body as she watched an old and dirty looking hat singing a long song about himself, or the houses, she wasn't very sure.

She saw Professor McGonagall twitch with impatience when the Sorting Hat requested she read the roster from the back, contrary to the normal ways of reading off in the alphabetical order.

The red haired boy next to her tensed as he realised he would be the first out of the three to be sorted.

"Zabini, Blaise," the professor called, beckoning the dark skinned boy up to the stool where the Sorting Hat sat. "Pick up the hat, and place it on your head, Mr Zabini."

Almost instantly, the hat yelled out, "Slytherin!"

A satisfied look plastered on his rather handsome face, Blaise quickly walked to the long row of tables reserved for slytherins.

"Weasley, Ron!"

A wave of encouragement came, most gryffindors recognizing the surname. Hermione saw the twins drumming their fists into the table in an applause. She watched as he slowly made his way to the stool. His face was a sickening shade of pale green.

"Another Weasley," the hat exclaimed. "Why I remember when Arthur came up to me-"

"The sorting, if you would," a tired sigh came from the professor.

Ron looked sicker by the second. He could only imagine the torment he would receive from his brothers and the disappointment from his sister if he were to be placed into a house other than Gryffindor.

The Sorting Hat pretended to think, as teasing a Weasley family member was the most fun he could gather each year. "GRYFFINDOR!"

Loud yells and cheers came from the gryffindor table, Percy clapping Ron's shoulders as he came to sit with wobbly knees.

It took a longer sorting time for Harry, and Hermione would swear she saw the hat smirking in a teasing expression before he announced, "Gryffindor!"

The eruption of delight from the table was by far the loudest cheer she had heard that night. "We've got Potter, WOOHOO!" She saw a boy with dreadlocks and sitting between the Weasley twins yell, "BOOYAH!"

When Draco Malfoy's turn came, he sat on the stool without a hint of nervousness. The hat had barely been placed on his head before it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!"

The calls and clapping from the Slytherin table was almost as loud as the one for Harry, but quickly resided as another student named MacDougal come up to be sorted.

She laughed as Neville, who had gone before her, had come come back from the gryffindor table to pass on the hat. With shaky fingers, she sat on the stool to steady her nervous waves of her body before looking at the gryffindor table.

Hermione could see Harry and Ron were keeping their fingers crossed, and the rest of the Weasley family looking at her with an expectant face.

She would be a Gryffindor, she thought, if her life depended on it.

Taking calming breaths, she tried to cede her shaking fingers and looked around the room to find the eyes of her friends but made the mistake of looking into a set of cold eyes with the color of storms. Malfoy gave her a cold sneer, before pointing at her and whispering to his two friends.

She refused to be affected by him, and with a feigned confidence she promptly jammed the hat on her head.

"Color me intrigued," the sorting hat muttered, loud enough for only her to hear. "Interesting… very interesting…"

Hermione squeezed her eyes tight in concentration. _Oh please, Gryffindor, Gryffindor. Let it be Gryffindor._

"Gryffindor, eh?" the Sorting Hat said to her ear. "An all right match, but you have the qualities of being in Ravenclaw _and_ Slytherin."

She shook her head in a desperate plea. "Please," she begged in a small voice, her eyes still closed shut. _Not Slytherin, not Slytherin. Not the snakes..!_

The moment the thought passed her mind, the hat snorted. "The snakes, you say?" he said loudly, his voice ringing out to the rest of the dining hall, making some students wearing green glare at her.

Professor McGonagall looked surprised by his new outburst, never having seen the hat yell loudly anything apart from the names of the four houses. The dining hall fell to an intense moment of quiet as they all awaited the judgement of the hat.

"No, please, I'm very sorry if I offended you," Hermione quickly rambled.

The hat seemed to ignore her plea, wondering in mumbles around her head as he decided where to place her.

"GRY-" the hat began, but by the most bizarre inkling of creativity that passed through him, the hat quickly continued,"-SLYTHERIN!"

The new level of silence in the halls suddenly became suffocating.

* * *

 **Ignis Fatuus** : Will-o'-the-wisp, or also known as _Foolish Fire_. Depending on the nature of travelers, they are mislead from their path, or sometimes brought back to the right one.

* * *

 **AN:** Reviews are like triple chocolate cookies for me in writing. Please review!

-ScarlettsMir


	2. Griffin

**02**

 **griffin**

 _Hybrid of Lion and Eagle_

Hermione's chest constricted as heavy thuds of her heart threatened to pull her down. A Slytherin. How could she be put in Slytherin? She probably would have had more luck if she had went up to the deputy headmistress and snatching and then stomping on the professor's pointy witch hat. The silence of the tables was foreboding, and she did not have to look towards the gryffindor table to see her new friends' disappointed faces.

In fact, she was afraid there would be traces of disgust on her ginger friend's eyes.

The brunette witch tried desperately to breathe normally and took shaky gasps in. But when yells of rejection erupted from the slytherin tables, she visibly flinched.

"What's that? A _gryffintherin_?" A slytherin boy looking to be a fourth year jeered.

"The snakes, she calls us," a girl with a green necktie pointed her a manicured finger accusingly at Hermione.

Murmurs of "she doesn't belong in any of the houses" rippled through the slytherin tables, and Hermione could no longer bring herself to take a step towards them.

When the hollers of the slytherin students got louder, Hermione vaguely administered Ron standing up from his table. "SHE'S YOUR HOUSEMATE!" he roared, looking more flushed as seconds ticked by.

"She's no more of a housemate than a _weasel_ is!"

Fred and George slammed their forks down on the table, giving the fourth year boy a stiff glare, warning him. "You're right, mate," Fred said calmly as he picked up a piece of treacle tart.

"Hermione should be in Gryffindor, where she won't have to fear the risk of catching something from these wankers," George supplied, as he made a catapult with his spoon. "Don't worry, Hermione, we will save you." Then with a flick of wand from Lee, the boy who was sitting between the twins, the treacle tart Fred had quickly placed on the end of the spoon went flying to the center of the slytherin tables, magic making it impossible to remove the splatter without a magical potion concocted by the twins. Ron clapped to their display of teamwork.

Giggles from the other houses led the fourth year student to blush crimson, tips of his ears a bright pink as the remains of the tart slowly oozed down his face. One by one, the slytherin started to grab their own ammos of food.

"That is quite enough!" The shrill tone of Professor McGonagall intervened, halting a slytherin girl in a mid swing. Minerva McGonagall ordered, "all of you will go to your respective dormitories, _now!_ "

As the rest of the students reluctantly filed out of the great hall in lines, first years curiously looking back to see how the older students would be punished, Hermione looked warily at the Weasley twins and their younger brother to the slytherin fourth year. Harry, who had stayed behind even after McGonagall's hints for him to leave, gave her a small smile that was meant to be comforting.

She could not take any comfort in his smile. Not even a hour at her new school, and she was already being hated by her new dorm mates.

"Excellent," she murmured for herself to hear.

"Now, Mr Weasley," the professor stopped for a moment and added, "all of you, while I understand your kind intentions, those actions of crude behavior was unnecessary. Your parents will be receiving a letter about this." She turned to the slytherin student, "that goes for everyone, of course."

McGonagall looked at Hermione whose head was hanging low, trying to burn holes into her shoes with her eyes. "Miss Granger, I apologize in behalf of the Sorting Hat. I will send a word to you when the headmaster figures out why the hat acted the way it did."

Hermione mumbled a polite reply, but her heart wished to disappear into a hole, and bringing attention to herself in her present situation was not helping.

"Your head of the house, Professor Snape, will be guiding you to your rooms," said the professor.

Hermione heard loud echoes of protests being made by her friends as they were sent off to their dorms to unpack for the night. Silently reminding herself that she still had people who liked her, Hermione waited for her head professor to come. The fourth year had also been ordered to his rooms, as Professor McGonagall had worried there would be retaliation.

Hard soles of shoes clacked against the cold stone floor, each step becoming louder than the next. "Miss Granger," a voice drawled. "Come."

Hermione turned around to face a man with eyebrows bunched up in a slight scowl, his slightly long black hair greasy against his pale complexion. From head to toe, he was dressed in black, and she wondered if it was intentional, to intimidate the students.

"Yes, professor," she replied.

Silence accompanied only by their footsteps continued until the pair reached a corridor built with simple stone bricks, but when Hermione accidentally brushed her arm against the wall, she found the stone wall to be damp. It seemed like an eerie place to be used as a dormitory, but she did not voice her thoughts.

"Pureblood," said Snape. A thin outline trace of a door appeared, and stones pulled themselves to the right to make a rectangular opening. Following the professor, Hermione climbed in and walked until suddenly, she was surrounded by gentle waves of green that washed over her, the emerald light illuminating the room in a soft glow. She opened her mouth in a breathless wonder as she examined the room.

The common room furniture were mainly black and mahogany, and decorations of silver that reflected the light seeping in from the windows glinted in the dark corners.

As she looked out to the window and saw a school of fish swim by, their scales catching the eye and shining a rainbow for a split second, she was thankful the whole house had been sent up to their rooms, instead of allowed to linger around at the common room.

"This way," her dark professor said. From the common room, they turned to the right and continued to walk through many aisles, going down a few stairs, until finally, they came to the very last room available in the vest last floor. When she opened the door, she found a small room with two beds, a wide window again showing ripples of green light, two powder desks, her trunk, and a set of very slim closets, which she was sure it was bewitched.

"I shall be putting up some wards to keep unwanted visitors away," he said in a bored voice as he walked around the tiny room waving his wand in complicated motions. He handed her a small, silver flower charm about the size of half her pinky. When she looked closer, she saw it was in the shape of a lily, when looked from the front. "This will heat up when I am calling for you, Miss Granger. To do likewise, tap your wand three times and say the numbers, 1-0-3-1. And do make sure you're in an unavoidable emergency before requesting me."

"One zero three one?" Hermione repeated, putting the new information permanently into her head.

Snape merely gave her a single nod, before turning around on his heels to leave. At the door, he paused for a moment and looked at her from his shoulder. "Miss Granger, I must tell you although they are unaccepting at the moment, Slytherins always had the strongest camaraderie when it came to fellow house members."

Unable to conjure the right words to reply to him, Hermione simply thanked him for the charm. When she no longer heard the professor's footsteps, she dug around her trunk and fished out a silver chain. Removing the previously set necklace charm, she threaded the flower piece, watching it catch the dim light of the green water and twinkle softly. She wondered if he had confiscated this jewellery from another student; she couldn't see the gloomy professor owning an item so delicate and feminine as her new lily charm.

Exhausted by the day's event and the slow pace it had seemed to have, she collapsed on the left bed still wearing her uniform. Hermione remembered taking off her cloak, but before she got to removing her shoes, she had cuddled into the plush blankets and fallen asleep.

When she woke up the next day, her immediate thought was a groan.

Just how was she able to get through today, let alone the whole year?

* * *

"Hermione!"

She whipped her head around at the sound of her friends, Harry and Ron. They had been waiting for her to arrive before heading into the halls to eat breakfast. Relieved that she would not be alone, she quickly walked up to them.

"Good morning," she tried to greet cheerfully.

"Are you okay? Did the prats say anything else to you?"

Hermione shook her head. "Professor Snape escorted me to my room, and nobody was in the hallways. I didn't see anyone else coming here, either."

"Maybe the teachers warned them to leave you alone?" Harry asked.

"Maybe," replied Hermione.

She stopped her walking when she entered the great hall. She did not know where to sit. To sit at the slytherin tables, she was still an outcast. But as a sorted Slytherin, she couldn't straight out ask to sit with the Gryffindors.

Sensing her hesitation, Harry nudged her. "Come on, let's sit." He led her to the edge of the Gryffindor table.

"Wait-" Hermione protested. "This will make them hate me even more."

Ron shrugged. "They're going to hate you anyway because of your heritage, so just eat with us."

"Smashing," she muttered.

Sending nervous glances to the Slytherin section where some students drew their lips back in a jeer at her, she sat across from the boys.

"How do!" George greeted her as he took the seat next to her. Immediately his hand grabbed for a scone. On her right, Fred twatted Ron's hands away from the bacon, just to annoy him. Hermione didn't really know the twins, but she felt a surge of affection for them when she remembered they had started a fight mainly for her sake.

"Thank you."

"What for?"

"Well, for helping me yesterday," she blinked as Ron put a rather big stack of tomatoes and bacon into his mouth and watched as he surprisingly managed to keep them from falling out of his mouth as he chewed.

"Nah, we were just mad they insulted us," said Fred.

"Besides, you were going to be named a Gryffindor, so of course we're going to look out for you." George used a free hand to slightly ruffle her hair. Hermione blushed, feeling a mixture of awkwardness and bubbling happiness. The last person to tease her head in a pleasant manner was her father, and that was at least three years ago.

As she had grown up without siblings or friends, Hermione wanted to instantly leap into the pleasant clouds of emotions that built around her, and accept them as her own. Only a day had passed since she had met them, but they had already been accepted near her heart.

She ate a full meal, preparing for the day ahead of her. She had the same schedule as Harry and Ron, and the rest of the first years of all four houses. Their first hour would be a potions class. Looking at the muggle wristwatch her father had bought her, she said, "Harry, Ron, we should get going."

"Right," Harry said, finishing the rest of his bacon.

Hermione gave the twins a smile, hoping to express her gratitude and affection to them. Their returning smiles seemed to understand her, and Hermione stood up to leave.

On their way to the dungeon for Potions, she passed by Malfoy who was with his friends in a ring. His platinum hair stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the browns and blacks, and he turned to narrow his eyes at her as she walked by him.

When Hermione and her friends got to the classroom, they found the seats only had enough space for two people a desk. Immediately, Hermione wondered what she should do, since she didn't want to separate the two boys just for the sake of her own selfishness.

Even though the boys protested, she told them to sit together, opting to put her books down on the desk right behind them. She sat by herself behind Harry, and the two boys turned around to keep her entertained.

She noticed that the group of slytherin boys came close to missing the bell, but paid no mind to it other than to hope Malfoy didn't make it on time the next time. She put her books and parchment in an order she liked, book tilting on Harry's chair, with the parchment right in front of her on the desk. She was determined to jot everything her potions master taught.

In a fluid movement, a boy with light brown hair sat next to her in a soft heap of his cloak. Startled, Hermione moved away from him. The boy was rather tall for his age, and thin- Hermione thought perhaps he wasn't eating enough - with brownish green eyes that offered a slight smile. Although she was surprised by the sudden visitor, as were her friends, she did not miss the green and silver tie.

"What ho!" the boy said.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, what ho," he repeated. "Name's Theo. Theodore Nott."

"Uh, Hermione Granger," she replied. Hermione, Harry and Ron shared a confused look.

Theo's eyebrows scrunched in an effort to remember. "Granger? I don't know any Grangers-"

Hermione's heart began to thud, a soft rhythm at first but quickly turning into the pace of a fire dance. She didn't know what she could say what she should not, and decided for the lack of better judgement to stay silent until she could fully grasp the cultural situation of the wizarding world.

"-but that's great, of course, because that means you haven't met my dad-"

"Why is that a good thing?" Hermione asked before she could stop herself. Damn her consistent need to know everything!

"Well, because I don't get along with my dad and I'm not so close with my mum-"

"Theo," Draco interrupted from a side table with a hiss. " _What_ are you talking to?"

Theo thrust his arms in the air in an exaggerated movement. "I'm having a conversation by myself, isn't that obvious?"

"That's a filthy mud-"

Suddenly, various shouts of hey came from the corners of the dungeon room. A several students of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff was pointing their wands at him.

"Watch what you say, Malfoy," Ron sneered.

"I take no orders from a weasel," Draco smirked. "I'll call her as what she is, a filthy little mudblood-"

With a loud bang, the doors to the classroom was thrown open, and in walked Snape, his black cloak vibrating around him in ominous waves. "You will mind your language while you are at my presence, Mr Malfoy," he said. Then he turned to the first years with their wands drawn out. "I suggest all of you put those away, instead of embarrassing yourself with poor attempts of a spell."

Hermione noticed that the professor had a simple tie pin, the main decorative part in a shape of a hollowed circle, engraved in intricate square designs. She wanted to ask if it was a Protean Charm, like the necklace piece he had given her, as she absentmindedly twisted her own protean charmed trinket.

"There will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations in this class," he continued to hiss with a chilly voice. The students dropped their wands to their sides one by one. They shuffled back into their seats, some looking disappointed while others annoyed.

"Now, page 13," Snape ordered, barely turning around to instruct them as he made a piece of chalk write directions of a potion. "Potter!" he said suddenly, making Harry jolt with surprise.

"Yes, sir?"

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Hermione knew the answer to this! She remembered reading it in _One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi_. She immediately raised her high in the air, quivering with excitement to finally know something. Knowledge gave her a sense of power, a control over herself.

"I don't know, sir," Harry bit out, glancing back at Hermione for help. She tried to silently convey it to him, but the answer was too long for him to understand.

"The answer is the Draught of Living Death," Snape sneered. "Next question, the property of a bezoar?"

Hermione once again waved her arm, and when Snape continued to rest his cold eyes to her friend, she quickly spelled the answer to Harry's back, hoping he would understand since the answer only required one keyword.

She felt Harry immediately tense under her touch, and saw the corners of his lips tug into a slight smirk. "Bezoar is an antidote, sir."

"Well done, Potter," Snape's lips curled into yet another sneer. "I am relieved to see you have an understanding of the alphabet."

Harry blushed red, though from being made into a joke by a professor or from anger, Hermione was not quite sure.

"Then what is, Potter, the difference between-"

Harry sighed. "I do not know, sir, but perhaps you should ask Hermione? She should know the answer."

The greasy haired professor clicked his tongue. "A point off from Gryffindor for you cheek, Potter," he said. "Five points to Slytherin for Granger's answers."

"Professor," Draco called out, "but that's four points to Gryffindor."

The slytherin students snorted with laughter, and some girls even giggled, praising him how smart he is to have noticed the flaw.

Hermione clenched her fists. She would have had liked to be sorted into Gryffindor, but as she was now a slytherin, she had wanted to belong to the house. Otherwise, she didn't have anywhere to go, for the line separating guests and Gryffindor housemates was there, and she knew it. Next to her, Theo tilted his head, trying to catch her eyes.

"You will do well to remember I will not tolerate such disdainful comments to fellow slytherins," said Snape.

Looking wounded, Draco glared at him, "but sir-"

"A slytherin is a slytherin." Snape stood firmly by his words, his black cloak rustling as he turned back to Harry. "Now, other houses, I have no say."

Draco's grin immediately returned, and he seemed to forget his previous miff to his professor.

* * *

"Hermione, wait!" A boy called out to her. She turned, expecting to find Harry or Ron, but confused since she should have been able to tell apart their voices, even if they had met for only several days.

Theo stumbled into a halt next to her, gasping through his mouth while he tried to catch his breath. "You-" _a wheeze_ , "-walk too fast." _Wheeze._

"Is there a reason you're talking to me?" Hermione raised her eyebrow. After a week of school, she had quickly learned what the word mudblood meant, and that the slytherins tolerated no filthy blood, unless it was mixed with magical one.

"I wanted to talk to you," he still had a slight pant to his voice. "Why don't you come have lunch with me today?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "If you wanted to prank me, Nott, come up with a less obvious one." She swiftly walked away, now genuinely tired of the slytherin antics to ruffle her feathers.

"That's not it," Theo hurriedly walked behind her, catching up with her in no time thanks to his long legs.

"Then what is it you want? I have no time to waste on stupid jokes."

"If you would just ease up," Theo muttered. "I just wanted to befriend you."

Hermione scoffed. "Yes, I believe you." She proceeded to walk away. Honestly, the nerve of him! Did he think she was dead from the head up? She had been bullied for a week, and only _now_ he wants to become friends with her?

"You're misunderstanding me, I have no prejudice against blood."

"Because you're a halfblood?" she guessed. There were some halfbloods in Slytherin, but they hadn't wanted to help her out in case they were also outcasted by the purebloods.

"No, I'm pure as Dumbledore's beard."

She resisted the smile trying to surface. "Do you not have friends?"

It was Theo's turn to roll his eyes. " _Of course_ I have friends. I just wanted to be friends with you, too. Do I need a reason?"

"Well no," she admitted. "But you're going to be bullied with me, are you sure?"

"My friends are the ones bullying you. Don't worry, I'm pretty chummy with Draco. I don't think they'll kill me or try turning me into a hufflepuff."

She quickly stiffened at the mention of her Hogwarts bully, but she relaxed when Theo put a hand around her shoulders in a friendly manner. "By the way, you might not see me everyday though, because I have to be at the hospital wing sometimes."

Hermione stopped walking. Was that why she hadn't seen him? "Why? Are you hurt somewhere?"

"No," he quickly replied. "I just randomly get sick from time to time."

"You should have it checked," she said.

"I already did, but all I need is a few days of rest," Theo assured her. He then linked his arms with Hermione's, and tugged her to the direction of the Great Hall.

Hermione protested at being pulled to a slytherin table, aware of the dirty looks spewing out of some students, particularly one with platinum hair and grey eyes.

"Oh, come on, you can't deny this table any longer," Theo complained as he held onto her arm firmly. "You'll hurt the table's feelings!"

She sighed, "Theo, tables don't feel."

"You never know, I mean, we _do_ have a talking hat."

"Good point," she admitted.

Hermione stood from where she had been forced to sit, and Theo snapped his head back at her, half in disappointment and the other half with betrayal of his efforts to befriend her.

"Relax," she grinned, "I'm just trying to sit across from you."

"Oh," said Theo. "You don't suppose your gryffindor friends will get mad, do you?"

"Because I'm eating with you?"

"Well, yeah, from what I've heard, you three have been stuck to the hip from day one."

Embarrassed, she asked, "do people really talk about us like that?"

"Don't get puffed up now, Granger," Theo teased. "Give some credit to the _famous_ boy who lived."

Laughter enclosed her face. "If only your friends were as easy going as you."

"You think I'm welcoming?" he raised an eyebrow, smirking. "You're right, I like my cuppa with the lovely forbidden forest creatures, covered in rainbows and sparkles. How did you know?"

She beamed. "Oh, Theodore, I think we'll be great friends, I can tell already."

"Blinding, coming from someone who refused my friendly intentions just ten minutes ago. You're too easy."

Hermione's eyes narrowed. "You don't want to be good friends with me anymore?"

"Merlin, I was just pulling your leg," he reassured her.

"You're the only Slytherin friend I've managed to make, so I don't find that funny. Not at all."

Theo immediately sobered. "Sorry, mate. Give it some time, 'Mione, I'm sure they'll come around.

"Yeah, sure," she said with a hollow voice. Then, on a brighter tone she asked, "do you want to come sit with me at the gryffindor tables later at the study hall?"

He blenched. "As much as that sounds attractive as Professor Flitwick in a bikini, I'll have to refuse."

"Please?"

"No, I don't dislike you, but no Gryffindorks for me."

Hermione lightly cuffed his arm. "Don't call them that!"

"They don't call us the nicest names, either!"

"Yes," she agreed, "but I'd like it if you also made friends with Harry and Ron."

Theo gave her a skeptical look. "I doubt they'll be much more willing, 'Mione."

"We won't know until you try now, won't we?"

Theo mumbled, burying his face into his hands. "Fine," he groaned. "Only because I don't want to lose a friend that took a week to make in a day."

"Good," she grinned with finished eating her ham and cheese sandwich, and stood up. "I'm supposed to be going to professor McGonagall's office. Want to come?"

"Am I allowed to?"

"I don't think she'll mind," she replied.

"Okay, just gimme a minute to finish mine," he pointed at what was his third serving of sandwich.

When they stood in front of the Gryffindor Head's office to knock on the door, Hermione heard someone shouting inside, but as she knocked the yelling ceased instantaneously.

"Come in, Miss Granger."

"Professor, Theodore Nott is here with me, may he also come in?"

There was what seemed like a short discussion being exchanged, and then another voice answered her.

"Bring him in, Granger," Snape said.

Cautiously she opened the door, and found the Sorting Hat to be wearing an expression that resembled a pout, with her two professors looking impatient. Snape quickly cast a _muffliato_ around the room.

Her first thought that swam across her mind was the question: had she done something wrong?

"Miss Granger, Mr Nott, take a seat," McGonagall instructed, pointing to a wide cushioned bench.

Snape let out a low snarl like sigh and flicked his wand to levitate the hat to the center of where they had all gathered.

"You will disclose," he said in a cold voice. "I am sick of students gossiping in my classes."

"You already know why, _Snapie-dearie_."

The two slytherin students silently gasped at the hat. _So brave_ , was the Sorting Hat.

Snape gritted his teeth. "Must I remind you Dumbledore has said he will be glad to replace you if you so much step a toe out of line?"

"I do not have a toe, as you can see," the hat gloated.

Professor McGonagall had to stop Snape from casting an Incendio curse.

"Dumbledore is not afraid of ending the traditions," she said. "I'm sure he will be able to spell another Sorting Hat." McGonagall said loudly to the students, as if to make a point to the old speaking object. "I will be right back with the Headmaster-"

"It's so BORING!" the hat yelled, finally sensing the dreadful atmosphere. "I've been here for hundreds of years, doing the same thing over and over again-"

"Which is what you were created for, in the first place," Snape growled.

Ignoring him, the hat went on, "I'm only called once a year, and for what, two hours at the most? I demand more dignity as the Sorter of Houses!"

"Your dignity certain shows, on Miss Granger's case," McGonagall commented dryly. "Now if you don't want to talk, Albus will-"

"Okay, OKAY!" The Sorting Hat whined, "I'm just trying to have some fun. Can't I do that?"

Theo frowned. "Seven years of bullying of a girl is an idea of fun for you?"

"The outcomes are," the hat showed no remorse of his actions. "Why, it certainly isn't the first time, I play around every few decades or so."

"But never like in Miss Granger's case-" the Deputy Headmistress argued.

"No," the hat grinned like a cat full of cream. "But one on _Snapie-dearie_ was fun, altogether."

Hermione saw her Potions Master's face drain of colour. He had little to begin with, but she saw the color physically changing into a sickening shade of grey.

"You-" Snape almost whispered, oblivious to his two students gaping at him. "I was-"

"You were much of a hatstall, just like the old bat there," the hat's dark shades representing eyes switched to the direction of the Transfiguration Professor. "A boy of both Slytherin, and Gryffindor."

Snape withdrew a slightly shaky breath. "You mean to say-"

"A loyal heart, beating for a single person," the Sorting Hat leered. "Your mind showed me a strong image of a _certain_ person, and the rest of your qualities floated around. So I decided to see what would happen if you two were separated."

McGonagall looked flabbergasted, "and you do this every few decades, you say?"

"It was quite interesting to see what happened to _Snapie-dearie_. I wasn't wrong."

"Confringo!" Snape thundered, his pale blue face receiving some warmth of the blast of pure hatred. Hermione didn't know the thoughts passing through his mind, but she knew the broken look on his face jabbed into her heart, squeezing what little happiness she had gathered that day. But Snape's moment of vulnerability was quickly dispersed, replaced with a facade of an icy storm blasting against the windows.

When the curse did nothing to the detestable object, Snape let out a snarl. Whipping around to Hermione and Theo, he spat, "You will talk of this to no one, not even Potter, Granger."

"Yes, sir-"

Without waiting for a reply, he opened the door with such great force that the door made a dent to the wall as he left.

Minerva McGonagall sighed. "What he meant was not to mention the part about him," she explained. "It's fine to talk about your own, Miss Granger."

"Y-yes," Hermione stuttered, which she never did. She was still shaken about what had just taken place, and her mind was trying to wrap around the new information. The Head of Slytherin was almost placed into Gryffindor. It was so similar to Harry's sorting!

* * *

The study time between the two gryffindors and slytherins had gone in a fairly civilized manner, all three boys, sometimes Ron excluded, had been able to strike up several conversations without insulting each other.

Hermione was proud of them, minding their manners for the sake of her. She wanted to hope that they will learn to become good friends with each other, because she liked the thought of four of them relying on each other to get through the school year.

She sighed in contentment as Theo poked Ron with his quill. "You spelled _Petrificus Totalus_ wrong," Theo said.

Ron looked at the slytherin boy in part annoyance. "I know I did, I was just going to fix all mistakes at one go," he muttered.

"Right, of course," sarcasm laced Theo's words.

Harry rolled his eyes from his seat next to Ron. He had been sitting in front of Hermione, and they shared a look of mock exasperation.

All of a sudden, she felt rather than saw, Theo taut his position, and followed his line of sight to land her eyes on a boy glaring at her with such hatred that she swore the vicinity of him turned to grey.

Harry and Ron also realised who they were looking at, and Harry sighed, "don't worry about it, 'Mione."

The nickname had stuck because Ron had decided Hermione was simply too long to say with ease, and Theo had spread the usage of the epithet.

However, all four of them couldn't help but to put on their best defencive front as Draco Malfoy approached them in smooth strides.

"Theo," Draco grinned tightly. "You should go back to the dorms with us, our house is throwing a party."

"Uh, sure," Theo replied, and began to gather his belongings. "Hermione, come on, pack."

Knewing what Malfoy was going to say when he purposefully opened his mouth, she beat him to the race and told her brown haired friend, "no, I was going to help Ron with his homework."

She noted Theo's crestfallen look, and innerly promised to make it up to him.

"Not that you're invited-" Draco taunted.

"Draco," Theo said in a warning voice. "You should know that I am her friend."

The blond boy scoffed. "Turning into a blood trai-"

"Don't you _dare_ ," Theo hissed, "finish that sentence. I've known you since we were basically toddlers, and I'd like to keep our friendship as it is."

"You can, just without the mudblood."

Theo's eyes flashed with burning white for a fleeting moment, and he slammed his books down, hard. "Malfoy-"

"Nott-"

Seeing where the argument was going, Hermione packed her belongings and intervened. "Don't start fighting, Theo." _You know you're going to regret that_ , she silently tried to convey with her eyes.

Giving one last dirty look at Hermione, Draco promptly turned away, leaving the hall with angry footsteps.

Theo sighed, "I should still go check on him. Sorry guys, I guess I'll see ya tomorrow."

"No, we understand," Hermione said in a comforting voice. "Despite our less pleasant feelings to Malfoy, we understand you are very close."

He still gave them a sheepish smile, apologetic.

When Theo had left, and Ron had finally finished writing the half of his essay- he promised Hermione to do the rest tomorrow- Harry gathered his own books into a pile, making them easier to carry.

"Say, 'Mione."

"Yes, Harry?"

"Wanna come with us to the gryffindor common room?"

Grinning, she tilted her head. "Well? Lead the way."

* * *

 **AN:** It really is hard to imagine the ways of thinking and acting of eleven year olds. I can't wait for them to grow up so I can start using less censored words! Oh the joy  
ALSO, THEO'S HAIR COLOR IS NOT KNOWN so I've created my own, therefore he is a light brown in this fic.

 **It would be lovely and considerate of you if you could review, please!**


	3. Pyragones

**Dedicated to:** _sousett, IGOTEAMEDWARD, FireGemini, TheLittlePrincessSnowWhite_ who took the time to read, log-in and review. Thank you lovelies! For you all, I've brought more action between our two favourite characters earlier than I had originally planned to. Enjoy.

* * *

 **03**

 **pyragones**

 _Hybrid of Dragon and Insect_

"It's wing- _gar_ -dium Levi- _o_ -sa," Hermione snapped, letting out an irritated huff to clear her bangs out of vision. She had been delighted when Professor Flitwick had placed Theo in her group, but her joy had quickly died when Pansy Parkinson joined. Not to mention the Malfoy heir sitting behind her with his two servant-friends. In front of her table was Ron and Harry, working with Neville.

Theo had gotten used to her bossy attitude by now, and didn't seem to mind as much as he first had when he experienced the receiving end of her temper. Hermione could feel that Theo still struggled against biting back a sarcastic reply, as was his way of speaking, but he thankfully decided against retorting, preferring to keep quiet. _Evading the storm if he could help it_ , he called it.

Pansy Parkinson, however, did not have an understanding of how to get around Hermione's infamous attitude. "Let's see _you_ do it," she growled, her eyes in an offended slit.

 _"Wingardium Leviosa!"_ Hermione said with a firm voice, her lips stretching into a smile as her feather floated up with a nice balance, catching the eyes of the professor who loudly commenced her achievement. She knew the black haired girl was glaring, whispering to the Malfoy gang which undoubtedly was about her. Hermione paid them no mind, their hate just proved she was better than them, that is until she passed by them after the charms period.

"I can't stand her," Pansy seethed. Hermione and Theo had been walking behind them to their next class, Slytherin students only, when she heard the derogatory term usually reserved for her being said. "That mudblood has no place in Slytherin."

"Did you expect anything else?" next to her, Draco sneered.

"A nightmare, _that's_ what she is," said Pansy to her friends.

Although Hermione had gotten somewhat used to being called names, and bullied for what she could not have controlled, her birth, she hadn't been prepared for a new line of insult. Especially from someone other than Malfoy and his two prats.

She quickly pushed by them, making sure her bushy hair curtained her face and determinedly speed walked to Merlin-knows-where, she just wanted to get out their sight as fast as she could. From far, she heard Theo mutter, "she heard you, you guys."

"So?" Draco laughed. "Serves her right."

"Maybe she realised no slytherin friend wants to be near her other than you," Pansy had a smug look on. "Whatever will she do when you get sick again?"

"Sod this," Theo glared. "Sod the lot of you."

The tears burning in the back of her eyes threatened to seep out, and her heart drummed against her ears, refusing to allow any of their conversation to be heard further. She walked faster, her feet nearly stomping on the stone floor until she reached where the gang would be less likely to get in, the girl's bathroom.

It was almost used by all of the houses but Slytherin, as the girls always complained the toilet near their dormitories was better equipped. Hermione did not mind, as she quickly found a stall stationed the furthest away from the exit. Her fingers gripped the raven shaped handle, and fastened it.

The wash of sadness and sorrow that passed from her head to toes did nothing to calm her down. It wasn't that being called a nightmare itself was so despairing, but it had been the last straw, the final daring jab in a game of Jenga. The blocks of her carefully placed frontage had toppled down, all with a slightly misjudged push.

Hermione longed to see her parents, her house, her bed, anything to be reminded of comfort her home had held. Her current resident hadn't been much to offer in terms of warmth, despite being full of surprising magics. She shared her room with no one, whereas all the other students did. During the classes held only for Slytherins, she had no one other than Theo. Even then, it was lonely, as Theo had more friends and had to spend time with them.

She had considered making a selfish request, asking him to stay by her side at all times, but who was she to demand such a thing when she herself divided her attention for her gryffindor friends?

So she had stayed, bawling out her piled heaps of emotions until she felt as if a part of her had sunken, leaving behind a hollowed chest. Only sobs came by then, without the hints of a stop. When asked if she was okay by Parvati, a gryffindor friend she had talked to only once before when she had visited the gryffindor common room, Hermione had managed to murmured, "s-sorry, but please leave me alone, Parvati."

The dark haired Gryffindor's worries had floated around for a few more seconds, until Hermione heard the girl leave. On top of the toilet, the cover down, she brought her knees to her chest and crawled into a fetal position. Hermione stayed there for what seemed like days, ignoring her stomach's protests for food.

She did not have the energy nor the face to go out.

* * *

"Harry!" Theo yelled when he spotted the jet haired boy sit down on the dining table, talking excitedly to Ron about something. "Harry!"

Turning around, the two Gryffindors gave him a wondering look. "What?" Harry said.

"Is Hermione with you?"

"Obviously, no," Ron rolled his eyes. Then it quickly changed into a look of worry. "Why? Did something happen?"

Theo did not have the patience to explain everything, so he just muttered, "nothing."

As the live bats of the Halloween decoration flickered around their heads, the three boys heard Parvati whisper to Lavender, "I think she's been there all day."

"She should at least get something to eat," said Lavender.

"I know! Those slytherin pricks," Parvati said. "Hermione should be-"

Harry's eyes quickly snapped to meet Parvati's brown ones. "Hermione's been there, where?"

The girls blinked, halted by the sudden interruption. "The girl's bathroom. She's been crying in there all day. Won't come out, though," Lavender sighed.

"Why?"

"Pansy Parkinson and Draco Malfoy," was all Theo had to say, knowing the rest came without an explanation.

"Called her a nightmare," Parvati still supplied.

Harry and Ron exchanged glances. They hadn't seen her cry once even when being called a mudblood or pulled back by her wild hair. If she was crying, then she _really_ was not all right.

Theo looked at his long time friend, Draco, fully enjoying his Halloween feast with Pansy Parkinson sitting across from him. He heard her excuse herself, possibly going to the girl's bathroom. Theo knew her habits well, for his mother had been friends with hers. To all the unknowing students, she was the girl who kept a strict care of her body, wanting to preserve herself into perfection.

He knew it was far from the truth. Pansy Parkinson always had a habit of regurgitating after meals. With feasts as heavy as today's she would be making several trips to the loo.

Theo looked at Draco to see if he had also caught the reason for her exit. He saw in the grey eyes of Draco that he indeed did, and was showing just a sliver of concern for their female friend.

He was just about to walk up to him when Professor Quirrell suddenly barged into the hall, out of breath and gasping, "Trolls! In the dungeons!" He then fell to the cold ground, collapsing like a heap of soggy noodles.

"Prefects! Lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!" Dumbledore's voice boomed, spreading over the chatter of the students. On his orders, Percy led the gryffindors, making sure to personally grab Ron and Harry. "Mum will have my head if you get in any trouble," he snapped when they protested. Like a lamb being herded, they were rounded to their common room, where the feast resumed and the students continued with their gossiping. Ron and Harry sat on one of the common room sofas, sulking. They had wanted to have a look at the troll.

Harry sat up suddenly, "Ron, RON!"

"Wh-what?" Ron replied, startled.

"Hermione," Harry gasped. "Hermione's still in the girl's bathroom!"

"Bloody hell, we have to go!"

Both rose from their seat and tried to sneak out of the portrait hole, without much success to their dismay.

"You will not leave while there's a troll meandering around!" said Percy. The first year boys struggled against his grip, Percy scoffing at their futile attempts.

"Let us go!"

"No," his older brother growled. "Not while I'm a prefect."

Harry sighed and dragged Ron back to where they had previously sat, being careful to dodge the suspicious glare of Percy. "I'm sure Theo will notice, Ron."

"But what if he doesn't?" said Ron in a helpless voice.

* * *

"Draco!" Theo yelled over the commotion, trying to catch the blond's attention. "Draco!"

He turned around, frowning. "What, Theo?" he asked.

"Hermione-" Theo began, but was interrupted.

"What about the mudblood?" Draco sneered.

" _-and_ Pansy, they don't know there's a troll out loose!"

At the mention of their friend's name, Draco immediately reached for his wand. With the exception of Granger, Slytherins had a tendency to protect their own, especially if the person was whom he'd been friends with since they were five years old.

Together, the first year boys crept out of their prefects' watching eyes, which was unnervingly easy to do, and scrambled to the corridors to reach the girl's bathroom.

Half way there, they saw Snape hurrying to get to what seemed like the staircase leading to the third floor, and Theo was about to question his House Head when he noticed the difference in the air.

"Smells filthy," Draco crinkled his nose in disgust. He and Theo followed the source of the stink. He was sure this was what trolls smelled like, a putrid odor somewhere between the vile air of uncleaned toilets mixed with Goyle's old socks.

He swore as they got closer to the disgusting stench, and nudged Theo when he spotted the leg of the troll. They froze when the Troll came into their full view, its height almost reaching the ceiling with an unfavorable ratio of body and head and equally unattractive legs the size of tree trunks. The creature had a club in his hand, and Theo shuddered at what seemed like a clumps of dried blood, stuck to the cracks in the wood.

"Sweet Salazar," Draco mumbled. His hands shook slightly, making his tight grip on his wand vibrate. Never in his entire eleven years of life full of riches, had he seen anything like _this_. It was different from the fear he had felt when his father had brutally killed his dog as a punishment for his misbehavior. The terror then had been been mixed with devastation, but what he felt now- the absolute paralyzation at the thought of his death- heightened his senses to the maximum.

Without another word, Draco shot a spark of light, harmless, but distracting enough for the gigantic creature.

The troll slowly turned its coconut like head and started to tumble into a room. Draco noticed the key lodged into the lock, and scrambled to quickly lock the door, sighing in relief as he turned the key with a sharp click.

Both Draco and Theo panted as they tried to catch their breaths. A few minutes filled with gasping intakes passed before a set of shrill screams broke out of the locked door.

"Shite," Theo cried. "I forgot Hermione was there-"

"Forget her, let's go," Draco hissed, pulling Theo's wrist to the opposite direction.

"You forget Pansy's in there, too!"

Draco almost slapped himself. Of course, that was the reason both of them were there to begin with. By now he was fairly sure the massive form of the Troll had messed with his mind, for he did not give a second thought of Granger's blood before unlocking the door.

Another scream cut through the autumn chill. Cutting into their conscious as they blindly ran towards the sound.

They quickened their feets, Theo gasping when he saw their black haired friend limp on the floor. Hermione was standing in front of her, stiff with fear, but managing to have a wand out in a defencive stance.

"I-Incarcerous," she stuttered. She quickly grasped her wand with both hands in an attempt to cease her shaking. "Incarcerous!" She tried again.

Rope flew out of her wand like a rapidly uncoiling snake, and wrapped itself around the troll's left foot. In vain, she tried to pull, all while knowing her current strength was no match against the troll's weight.

 _"Lumos Solem,"_ yelled Draco, hoping to distract the troll again. He would be thankful for even a minute of diversion to save Pansy. For a brief moment Draco thought his spell had failed, but when the troll snapped around with his club raised, he quickly shot out a stunning spell.

It missed, hitting the wall behind Pansy, the light quickly fading like Draco's hopes. He cursed. He knew the spell perfectly, but the inexperience of the usage in a fight, especially one with a _troll_ , had rendered it useless.

"Try something else!" Theo ordered Hermione. He couldn't think of anything on top of his head at the moment, but he knew his know-it-all friend could. However, when the troll turned his mean eyes at him, his veins rushed with bursts of adrenaline and he immediately propelled himself up, with his wand pointing towards the ceiling.

With a scandalously disgusting squelch, his cedar wand drove itself up into the troll's nostrils. The gigantic creature howled in pain, clutching his hand tightly on his face. With its free hand, he raised the club again-

 _"...Wingardium Leviosa,"_ Pansy croaked from the floor, her neck in a strenuous effort to keep her head up. Her green eyes fleetly clicked onto Hermione's hazels, moving on to rest on Draco and Theo. She tried to give them a slight smirk as she watched her spell work.

The dirty club rose a few meters, before slamming itself down on its owner's head.

Draco heard the distinctive sound of a coconut cracking, and winced as the troll collapsed with a ringing thud.

With a face flushed with apparent victory, Theo looked around and wiped his wand on the ends of the troll's trousers. "Ew," he said as the troll snot came off in a sticky movement.

Hermione was still trembling from the fright, but managed to conjure the rope spell again, this time successfully binding the troll.

Still weak, Pansy stared at Hermione until Theo picked up the troll's club, examining it.

"Wicked," he said, trying to break the silence that had set after the fall of their opponent. There was a moment before Pansy slowly said while looking at Hermione, "...thanks."

No further words of gratitude were exchanged between the four, for the professors chose that precise moment to barge in.

"My goodness, what on earth were you children thinking?" Professor McGonagall cried in disbelief. "You could have gotten killed!"

Strolling from behind her, Snape bit out, albeit in a calm demeanor, "explain yourselves, you fools." His face had turned into a scowl of irritation.

None of the four said anything.

"Well?" Snape drawled. "Will you speak after a dose of veritaserum?" When he still received no answers, he turned to Draco. "Mr Malfoy? Why exactly were you chasing a troll?"

"Sir-" he began, unable to decide if the truth was the best choice. He sensed that whatever he said would cost him detentions.

"Please, professor, they were only trying to help me," Hermione quickly cut in. Draco and Theo's eyes widened slightly and Pansy let out a surprised cough. Hermione Granger, the zealot of rules, lying straight-faced to a teacher? Theo shuddered, truly wondering if the world was ending.

Hermione continued, "I-I thought I could hunt the troll down, since I learned so many new spells-"

"Miss Granger!" Minerva McGonagall was astonished. "Five points will be taken from Slytherin for your carelessness! Putting three students into danger, my days!"

Hermione hung her head low, hoping to be seen as an ashamed child. "Yes, professor," she mumbled meekly.

"If you're not hurt anywhere, take Miss Parkinson with you to your dorms."

With a great effort, Pansy brought her legs to a stand. Or she tried to. When she faltered after taking what could be loosely defined as a step, Snape levitated her and left the bathroom, with a chilled promise of, "you two boys will come to my headquarters after you are finished talking to Minerva."

Theo gulped as the beady eyes of McGonagall bored down upon him. "Well, I must give credit where it is due," she said. "That will be five points each for your loyalty to your friends. Bravery alone could not have urged a first year to attack a troll."

"Thank you, ma'am," Theo said, and Draco remained mute.

"Although I must admit, I _am_ a little surprised that even Mr Malfoy came to the rescue," said McGonagall.

"I came for Parkinson," Draco replied. But Theo could see the confusion in his voice, fringed with uncertainties. "I would've not come if it was only Granger, professor."

"Nevertheless, I must thank you," she said as she gave them a knowing look. She felt a whisper of déjà vu flutter past her mind, carrying images of Snape in his first year.

Theo clapped his friend's back as they slowly began their walk to the dormitories. "See? Maybe you don't hate 'Mione as much as you thought."

"Don't get your hopes up," Draco growled.

Theo gave him a carefree shrug, "whatever you say _DrayDray_."

"Don't call me that!"

"Okay, _DrayDray._ "

The only reason Draco refrained from smashing Theo's face into the damp walls was the slow creak of a door opening.

"Do not talk so loudly, Mr Nott and Mr Malfoy," Severus Snape's voice came from the room. "I believe I've told you two to come to my office."

With trudging feet, the two entered the room. Their professor's suite was decorated in tones of gray and blue, with only the candle lights as the sole source of brightness. Snape was sitting behind his desk, and the cold stone walls of the room did nothing to help his face look more comforting.

"Sit down," Snape ordered. "Now, I want you to explain to me the real reason the four of you were in the girl's bathroom. Do not try to lie, I saw through it before, and I will again." He opened a drawer attached to his desk, and revealed a small phial clearly labelled, _Veritaserum_.

He fiddled the potion in his hands. "Now, this veritaserum right here, is so powerful that with every lie, levels of pain will proliferate until the recipient is ready to tell the _truth._ " Snape's eyes glinted in the dark room, making the two boys shudder slightly. The respectful aura of the Potions Master came with a price, so Draco and Theo exchanged glances, fearful of their favourite professor and the tiny glass bottle he held.

When Snape slowly twisted the stopper of the phial in a deliberate movement, Theo put out his hand, his eyes wide with horror, "Please, we'll talk-"

"Everything."

"Everything," Theo assured. Draco looked confronted, as he knew Snape was against Slytherin students bullying Granger. And while Draco had known his Head ever since he could remember and remained a personal favourite of Snape's, he knew he was on top of the list of Granger-bullies.

The Slytherin Head listened intently, never interrupting them to scold- just a few moments of frowns here and there- as the boys began to retell their exciting but nerve wrecking tale. The initial misspoken words due to their fear of Snape had long vanished, and when they finished explaining, he simply commented, "I have told you before and I will say this again; we Slytherins support our own."

Draco waited for the reprimand to come. He was sure his father had asked Snape to teach as if Draco was his own son- whether the aspects were positive or not. His mind backtracked to his old dog, Canis. He had buried the dog next to his favourite apple tree, which Canis had also liked. He felt vile collect under his tongue as he remembered what his father had done as a form of discipline.

"Nevermind the initial motive, you are praised for your actions." Slowly, Draco's lifted his head at his teacher's unusually kind words. He mustered a smile, his pounding petrification, gone.

When Snape opened his drawer again, Draco innerly hoped he would be storing the unused- thank Salazar- bottle of veritaserum when the professor instead fished out something else, hidden tightly in his fist.

"First, before I give you what is in my hand, I need your unconditional word on following my instructions," he let his dark eyes slide over to the phial, conveying the unsaid threat.

Both boys nodded. "Yes sir, we give you our word," said Theo as he eyed Snape's playing fingers.

Snape analysed them for a minute before he slowly unclenched his fist, exposing two, small silver ornaments. He held up one in a shape of a flat disk, with no engravings on the surface.

"Yours," he told Theo. The brown haired boy gingerly caught the charm as Snape dropped it into his palms.

"And Draco's-" Snape gave Draco the other charm in a similar manner. The silver piece looked like an infinite symbol from far, but when Draco squinted, he saw it was detailed in a single snake twisted so its mouth was catching its tail into a figure eight.

"Professor, what is-" Theo began, his eyes wide.

"Protean charmed trinkets," said Snape. "You will thread them and have them on you at all times, even to bed and to showers." He then whipped out his wand. "When the circumstances call for it, you will," he tapped his own snake tie pin with his wand three times, "do this while thinking of the face of the person you want to contact and say the numbers 1-0-3-1."

The instant Snape demonstrated further, the boys felt their charms heat up, slightly tugging out of their finger-grips like a piece of metal being attracted to a magnet.

"A message of simple words can be given, two at the most," small inscriptions of _'snape hq'_ became visible on their charms, so tiny that they had to squint to read them. "You must also be thinking of the message after the password," added Snape.

"But sir, why would we need this?" Draco questioned. The charms were rather nice, but he saw no reason to receive them from his teacher.

"Miss Granger also has one," said Snape. "This will be the form of communication between the four of us."

Draco grunted, his eyebrows scrunched. He did not have to think hard to imagine his father's disagreeing face of seeing his son mingle with a mudblood. "I don't think I'll be contacting her anytime soon-"

Snape's eyes hardened. "Regardless, you will keep this on at all times, and you _will_ be civil to each other."

After a long pause, Draco grudgingly mumbled, "...yes sir."

"Good," Snape handed them each a black cord. "To string your charms," he explained. "When you get back to your common room, do explain what I just not demonstrated to Granger. She only knows how to contact me."

The boys nodded and opened the door to leave. However, halfway out the room, Draco turned around and asked, "Professor? Is there a reason you are particularly protective of Granger?"

"I do no such thing. All I am requiring of all of you is the requirement of civil manners to be shown for fellow Slytherins. I cannot imagine your parents had not drilled you on etiquette."

"No, of course not," said Draco. Reluctantly, he forced out, "I will refrain myself from calling her a mudblood from now on."

Oh, but that did not limit his desire to get her strung- there were so many ways of teasing- and Hermione Granger had the tendency to have a short temper around his clique.

Snape nodded. "Now leave, I have papers to grade."

* * *

During the absence of the boys, Pansy had repeatedly given her not so surreptitious glances until they had reached the Slytherin dormitories. Once they had entered, Hermione had been about to go straight to her room, despite not having had dinner. She wasn't hungry much, considering what had transpired just a few minutes ago.

"Wait," said Pansy. Her look of uncertainty was enough to stop Hermione in her tracks. "Why don't you-" she hesitated, "why don't you come sit with me in the commons?" Pansy immediately glued her eyes to the floor. "I suppose I should... thank you, or something."

Hermione felt a small spark of hope twisting in her heart. Was this it? Was this finally the turning point to making one more slytherin friend?

"Okay," she replied.

The students feasting on the couches of the lounge came to an abrupt stop in their chatters as Hermione walked boldly in, followed by… Pansy Parkinson. Some girls began whispering to each other, fingers pointing back and forth between the two first years.

In a loud voice, Pansy said, with only a bit of stuttering, "thank you for saving me from the troll. I don't think even a _sixth year_ could have saved me." She looked directly to one student, who looked more of a grown man than a student and had been openly nudging his friend. The sixth year rolled his eyes and said, "didn't say anything, did I?"

Pansy ignored them, silently leading Hermione onto a long sofa bench. She sat on one side, beckoned Hermione to sit on the opposite end and stretched her legs. Pansy still winced from her earlier injuries, but she was thankful that Madam Pomfrey had managed to reduce her pain to the minimum, enough to allow her the freedom to walk without wincing every few nanoseconds.

Sitting on the same sofa, Hermione thought she should say something, but realised she had hated the black haired girl until their accident, and knew next to nothing about her. Gods, Hermione knew more about Draco than she did Pansy.

Sighing deeply to the silence, Pansy hated tense atmospheres, she prodded Hermione with her feet. "Get something to eat," she said.

"No, I'm not too hungry. You should get some though."

"I already ate before I got nearly killed by a troll. But I know for a fact you haven't eaten since breakfast. Go on," Pansy tapped her feet again.

"I'm not-" Hermione tried to begin, "I don't think-"

Pansy followed Hermione's gaze to where the semi-gala had been set and found most of the Slytherins had crowded around the tables. She hadn't thought in anyone else's position before, but if she were Hermione, Pansy thought she would feel out of place because Theo wasn't here with her. Sighing, she slowly got up, her bones still slightly clicking like a badly oiled machine. "Then I'll go get you some," she said.

Hermione protested, which was firmly ignored by Pansy who instantly heaped some shepherd's pie onto a rather conveniently large plate. Next she threw some baked potatoes on it, finally grabbing some pumpkin pastries as dessert.

She returned to where Hermione sat waiting for both Theo and her, and sat the full plate down in front of the outcasted girl. She heard the girl gasp in surprise at the amount of food but she quickly told the girl, "you better eat them all, or I'll be reporting to both Professor Snape and McGonagall."

"Go ahead and report me to Dumbledore also, yeah?" Hermione replied easily, her body gesture expressing sarcasm.

"Now there's a thought," Pansy hummed. Then she frowned. "I'd like to start fresh, Hermione. I'm not going to pretend nothing happened like Draco probably is going to, but I also don't want to treat you the way I did before."

Hermione gave her a genuine smile. "Sure, Pansy. I hope we work out."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Please don't tell me you want to do the handshake thing and introduce ourselves again?"

"No-" Hermione admitted, "why don't we, umm, hug?"

"That's not much more relaxing, Granger," Pansy teased. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the other students were gradually thinning out, having finished their dinner. "Once you're done eating, and we meet up with the boys, why don't you show me your room?"

Pansy saw the new shimmer of light on Hermione's face suddenly shine, and knew she had pleased the buck-toothed girl.

For the next few minutes, they conversed on light topics, until the rectangular hole out of the dorm was suddenly overlapped with the silhouettes of two boys.

"Hermione," Theo yelled loudly, quickly scampering to where she sat waiting. He dived into the seat next to her, grabbing a pastry from Hermione's enormous plate.

Pansy caught Draco's eyes, and she gave him a nod in assurance. "I'm fine, see?"

"That's good."

When Draco sat next to Theo, the boy sat upright as if he had just remembered something important. Only Draco remained unfazed by Theo's random behavior, for he knew what his friend had remembered.

He saw the mudbl-, no, muggleborn witch listen with wonder as Theo explained what had happened after they had separated. Her eyes crinkled in light amusement as the story reached near its end, and she said, "you do realise veritaserum is harmless, at least in the physical pain way, right?"

"A bit twit-like if you haven't known that," Pansy chimed in, her cheshire cat grin splitting wider as she took the boys' bewildered looks.

"Aw, did I hurt your pride, boys?"

Theo pushed out his bottom lip, sinking into his seat. "I can't believe he fooled us with that lie."

"I bet he's laughing right now," Draco felt so humiliated that he did not even register Hermione on the same sofa. He groaned into his hands as he felt the tips of his ears glow red.

"Well," Pansy smirked, "I'm sure Hermione would be able to warn you both next time."

The blond boy raised his head. "On friendly terms, are you."

"Seeing how she saved me, yeah," shrugged Pansy. "Anyway, stop stealing her food, Theo." She glared at the boy now stuffing his cheeks with the cottage pie.

Theo imitated Pansy's carefree shrug. "It's Halloween, it'd be a disgrace not to eat."

"So get your own plate," came the annoyed reply.

He chewed some more before swallowing. "But other's food taste better," he complained.

Hermione laughed at her friend's childish reasoning. "I don't mind," she said.

"Of course you don't," grumbled Pansy.

The previous existence of the troll forgotten, they enjoyed the Halloween feast, even Hermione, whose appetite had creeped back, and Draco, who conversed tactically without much noticed glances to the muggle-born witch.

Theo smiled. There were some things one couldn't share without ending up liking each other, and defeating a twelve-foot mountain troll was one of them.

Live bats fluttered around the common rooms, their shiny tips of fur reflecting the slow emitting glow of the lake. The movement in the lighting settled comfortably on the common room.

* * *

 **AN: Please _REVIEW!_**

 **Theo's wand will be cedar in this story. I'm trying to slowly work up to DM HG relationship, SO LET THE INTERACTIONS BEGIN!**

 **On a side note, _my college applications will be starting soon_ , the whole process may take several months, but I'm hoping to get over the first hurdle for now, and therefore it might be _over a week or even two_ before I update again. _I promise to be back ASAP_ , though.  
**  
 **-ScarlettsMir**


	4. Cerberus

**04**

 **cerberus**

 _Guardian of the Underworld_

From the fateful incident of a troll and a troll-booger covered wand, the leaves had completely fallen, leaving only the bared branches, some bending due to the weight of the snow that had gathered on top.

The lake view seen from the windows of the Slytherin common room had gotten gloomy, with the layer of ice now coating the lake. The lights within the dungeon in exchange glowed stronger, as not to make a difference in lighting of other seasons.

"Stop that," Draco Malfoy hissed in annoyance.

"Stop what?" Hermione barely looked up from her potions essay. It was all a facade, however, as she couldn't force her brain to focus on the work needed to be done. She sighed, rolling her quill around her fingers.

"That," he narrowed his eyes.

"You want me to stop _what,_ " Hermione tried to keep back her irritation, sighing once again. She did not need a certain blond prick to disturb her more than she already was.

"Sighing," said Draco. "You're breathing too hard."

She put down her quill and slowly rose from her cushioned seat, turning to face Draco Malfoy, an absolute- forgive her, Salazar- barmpot. "Excuse me?"

Hermione Granger's voice shook with unexploded frustration. "I don't think I understand you. You want me to stop breathing?" She heard an imaginary vein pop, but suppressed her impatience, now fully aimed at him.

"Yes, that'd be much appreciated," he drawled, nestling into the black leather couch.

"Look- I'm not in the mood to discuss your prick-like tendencies-"

Draco closed his eyes and frowned, as if he couldn't bear to listen to her voice. "Even your voice is annoying me, so kindly stop breathing. My ears can endure only so much strain."

"Or you could just go up to your own room," she huffed.

"Theo's not in," he said. He did not see the difference in levels of comfort between the common room and his dormitory when his roommate was absent.

She stiffened. Unbeknownst to Malfoy, who was goading at the thought of getting his now considered enemies Harry Potter and Ron Weasley into trouble, Theo had sneaked out to warn the duo before both of them were caught waiting for a nonexistent match of duel. Hermione and Theo had come to the conclusion, that with the act-first-think-second nature of the two Gryffindors, they would unknowingly walk into what was obviously a trap.

Hermione had nonetheless tried to stop Theo, knowing Harry possessed the Cloak of Invisibility since Christmas, but unable to tell her brown haired friend the secret. Theo had insisted, and Hermione had made a side comment, telling him he should just ask the Sorting Hat to re-sort him into the red and gold house.

Theo had rolled his eyes, still stepping out into the dark and empty dungeon hallway. "I'll be back soon," he had said.

"I'll wait in the commons. I have an essay to write."

"'Mione, that potions essay is not due for, let's see," he had pretended to think, scrunching his eyebrows in a mocking consideration. "For a fortnight!"

She had rolled her eyes, similar to how Theo had moments before. "Just go, don't get caught."

"Psh, you forget who you're talking to. I am the great Theo, the master of all sneaky mischie-"

Hermione had pushed him out of the dormitories, grinning when she heard his steps falter on the stone ground from the sudden force.

Looking at the clock and realising it was past midnight, Hermione sighed. When Draco shifted in his seat to glare at her, she sighed again, making sure the sound was louder than before. She was about to annoy him more with her now deliberate sighs when the entry passage glowered in a dim light and in walked a rather shakened Theo, who immediately scanned the dungeon for his female friend.

"Hermione!" He rushed across the room to give her a suffocating hug. Theo's eyes were colored a shocking green, his usually present splash of brown missing.

When she felt the boy tremble in her arms, she slowly rubbed his back in soothing circles. "What's wrong?"

"'Mione, you'll never believe-"

"-Where were you?" Draco interrupted, making Theo jump when he realised with a sheepish grin he had completely overseen his oldest friend.

He looked at Hermione, wondering what excuse would be acceptable for the blond Slytherin. He considered saying he had been out to meet someone, but immediately crossed it off, since he didn't know any other non-Slytherin students apart from Harry and Ron. It was all too bad the dungeon had its own bathroom.

Sparkling with a sudden idea, Theo hastily concealed a smile threatening to surface. He knew he was smart, but to be this smart-

"I heard some fifth years talking about prefect bathrooms, and I wanted to go find one." Theo smirked innerly, whole heartedly believing he could pull this lie off. He was oblivious to Hermione who was giving him an incredulous look.

Draco did not need to have caught the fuzzy haired witch's look to decide if his friend was telling the truth. He had known the boy for seven years, for Merlin's sake. Sighing, he rose from his favourite black seat, slinging his discarded cloak over his arm. "Well, aren't you coming?'

Theo nodded and quickly left to follow Draco, before giving Hermione the silent message, _we'll talk in the morning, ok?_

Sighing once again, Hermione looked to see if Malfoy had completely left. She waved off the slight disappointment in her lack of chance to annoy him, but she supposed she had done all she could for the night. Gathering her scattered pieces of parchment and her spare quills, she cleaned up the table she had been studying at before finally retiring for the night.

She would need all her energy for tomorrow, with discussing the look of horror that had etched into Theo's face and her now-only-thirteen-days-left essay. She had already wasted one evening!

* * *

"You must be joking," Hermione whispered. She was sitting near the shores of the Great lake with her friends, eating the breakfast they had taken from the dining hall. All of her boys were sharing looks of equal horror- well, except Ron- who was managing to stuff everything on his napkin into his face- as they explained the events of the previous night.

"No, I swear on my wand, that dog was three headed." Theo's eyes were wild as he looked at Hermione. "And it was guarding something."

"What?" Both gryffindor boys looked up from their food. "No it wasn't-"

Theo scowled. "Yes, it definitely was, you guys just didn't realise because you were honestly considering going back to Filch-"

"Which was better than getting our heads ripped off," Ron muttered.

Hermione groaned, "What were you three thinking, running to the third floor corridor? Professor Dumbledore specifically banned students from going there, and with a _solid good reason_." She glared at the boys, who were now grinning without a trace of worry.

"I had the Cloak of Invisibility with me-" Harry tried to explain between bites of scrambled egg.

Adamantly ignoring him, she continued, "you could've been killed- or worse, _expelled!_ "

"Nice to know our lives matter," Ron picked up a toast from Harry's share. "Really, Hermione- relax, would you?"

"At least none of us were actually killed nor expelled," Theo piped in.

"It could've been a nice lesson to be learned from," Hermione snapped. _Honestly, these boys-!_ Dumbledore had been trying to avoid students from inevitable deaths, going far as to prohibit the access to the area because what student in their rightful mind would choose to willingly go into a room with a three-headed dog-

"-Wait," her eyes widened as her new train of thought finally caught up to her. "You said the cerberus was guarding something?"

"Cerubu- what?"

She clicked her tongue in impatience, "the dog, Ron-" Hermione looked at Theo for confirmation. "What was it guarding?"

"Dunno, 'Mione," said Theo. "It wouldn't move from the trapdoor."

"Harry," she said. "You told me that Hagrid once said Hogwarts was the safest place, second only to Gringotts?"

"Yeah, because only fools would try to break in-" Harry's green eyes widened as he began to connect the dots. "You don't think- the package in vault seven hundred thirteen-"

Theo dropped his napkin full of breakfast in his own revelation. "-was stolen by Dumbledore?" Next to him, he felt Ron choke on his bits of bacon.

"You all must be going mad," Ron coughed out, "there is no way he could have stolen something right under the goblins' noses."

"Ron's right," agreed Hermione, surprising the freckled boy into yet another round of dry bacon coughing. "The Daily Prophet said nothing was stolen on that day, it was only an attempted break-in."

"It must still be about the package, though," said Harry. "I saw Hagrid taking something out from the vault. There wasn't anything else in there, so it must be the package!"

"Then the Headmaster moved it to safety because he knew it was being preyed upon?" Theo rose from where he had sat, dusting his cloak. "That must be it, why else would he move the package?"

"More importantly, what _is_ in the package?" asked Ron.

For the next few hours of the Saturday morning, the four first years tried to think of an acceptable reason, they all fell short on ideas. The February weather did not help, even with the jars of warm fire Hermione had conjured. When they began to shiver despite the fire and their cloaks, Hermione cleaned their mess from the outdoor breakfast, getting ready to leave.

"I think we should go to Hagrid," suggested Harry. "He might know something."

"Yeah, or he could be tricked into telling us," said Ron. Harry didn't look all too happy on the prospect of deceiving his first-ever wizard friend, but he nonetheless nodded along to Ron's idea.

Theo looked less enthusiastic. "You three go, Hagrid doesn't really like me."

"You haven't even met him yet," Hermione chastised him. "How would you know?"

"The Gatekeeper is pretty notorious for his dislike of Slytherins." Theo fidgeted as he held his jar of fire.

Hermione frowned. She hadn't felt any animosity from Hagrid, and _she_ was a Slytherin. "I think you are mistaken-" she began, but stopped when she saw the looks Harry and Ron were giving her. "What?"

"Hermione," Harry tried to explain. "Hagrid really doesn't like Slytherins. I think the only reason he likes you is because he knows you're our best friend-"

"Theo is also your friend-"

"-and you were almost named Gryffindor. He knows what the Sorting Hat did to you."

"That is the most outrageous thing I've ever heard, liking me only because the Hat said Gryffindor first-"

Ron sighed. "'Mione, he realises that no muggleborns have ever been accepted into Slytherin, and that's why he's okay with you."

"But I _am_ a Slytherin now, I'm not a Gryffindor," Hermione protested. "I didn't peg Hagrid as one to discriminate."

"Don't," said Harry harshly. "Everyone has shortcomings, and at least he doesn't act negatively on his." He didn't appreciate Hagrid being assumed for less than he really was. To him, Hagrid was the friend, no, family, to turn to when he felt out of the line with the world and he would not stand still as Hagrid gets insulted.

Hermione saw Theo look even more uncomfortable as the conversation began to take a thorny turn. "Look, it's not a big deal, Hermione. Slytherins discriminate all the time, and besides, I'm not saying Hagrid hates me."

"I don't think he _hates_ any students, Slytherin or not," supplied Ron, who was looking back and forth at Harry and Hermione.

Theo rushed to explain further. "And all I meant to say was that Hagrid would be less likely to talk if I'm there."

She glared at Harry. "Violence or not, discrimination shouldn't happen!"

"His dislike for Slytherins is the same as our mutual hate for Malfoy!" argued Harry. "You don't seem to call yourself a prejudiced person!"

"That's different!"

"How?" Harry was almost yelling, his face red. Hermione took a step back. She had never seen Harry lose his temper except when discussing about Professor Snape, and she had to admit it hurt rather than scared her that she was on the receiving end of his anger. "You also had bias against Slytherins before you were sorted!"

"That's not true!" But deep down, she knew it was. She did not think it anymore, but she had thought what all assumed, that Slytherins were full of unnecessarily dark and mean wizards and witches.

From the sides, Ron and Theo tried to intervene. "Whoa, let's calm down for a minute mate," said Theo as he put his hands on Harry's shoulder. "This isn't something to fight so much over."

"Both of you are irritated because we've been out in the cold for too long, let's go back in," Ron said. "Calm down and let's talk this through over a cup of steaming hot chocolate-"

"No," said Harry in a shaky breath, a visible effort to control his anger. He looked less ruffled than before and he was silently thanking the two for trying to mediate, but they still needed to have a progress in their mission. "I'm still going to Hagrid's. You coming, Ron?"

When Hermione saw Ron give her a nervous look, she sighed, "go, Ron. I'm going to go back inside with Theo, where we won't be attacked for being dressed in green-"

His fire rekindled, Harry snapped, "you're being ridiculous. I never said that-"

"Okay, okay, we're going now," said Ron as he half-pushed Harry in the direction of Hagrid's hut.

Hermione protested as Theo began to drag her away in a similar fashion, nearing the school. "Hold on, Theo, I'm not finished-"

Theo stopped in his track, just inside the courtyard. "'Mione," he sighed. "You have to understand what Harry is saying."

"So you think I'm overreacting?"

"No," said Theo. "Well, actually- yes, 'Mione. I do think you were a bit over the top."

She felt a wave of frustration and betrayal rush to her face, and she saw red and white flashes in her mind. "I was trying to defend you-"

"But you still didn't have to imply that Hagrid was a close-minded person."

"His bigotry is not, Merlin's hat, a behavior of an open-minded person, then, is it?" Hermione seethed. She admitted that she had been needlessly hot tempered with Harry, but she had thought Theo would be on her side.

"No, but everyone has their likes and dislikes. What makes Hagrid different from discriminating gits is that he doesn't act upon his dislike. If he wasn't already infamous in our house, I don't think anyone would have felt that," Theo explained. "I really did mean that he was less likely to open up if I were there. It wasn't just something I said to break you two up."

With downcast eyes, Hermione mumbled, "fine. We'll leave it at that."

Smiling, Theo reached for her hand. "Glad you understand. But to be honest, I was quite happy when you came for my defense."

"You were?"

"Yes, this just proves how much of good friends we are, right MaiMai?"

Hermione wrinkled her nose. "MaiMai? Another nickname?"

"MaiMai," Theo chirped happily. "DrayDray and MaiMai."

Rolling her eyes, she began to lead both of them to the library. "MaiMai sounds stupid."

"Stupider than DrayDray?"

She laughed, remembering the first time she had heard the tag being used in her presence. Malfoy's facial expression had been delightfully priceless.

"And I'll have you know my naming skills are wonderful- just look how well it sticks to your tongue! 'Mione, MaiMai, DrayDray!"

"Yes, so wonderfully horrendous," drawled a voice from behind them. Draco Malfoy had his arms crossed, gazing at the two with bored eyes.

"DrayDray!" Theo exclaimed, looping his arm around Draco's shoulders. "You're going to the library?"

"Obviously," said Draco. He began walking forward, but paused when he heard no footsteps following. "Are you not coming?"

"Uh-" Theo looked at Hermione. "Yeah, sure, we were going there anyways." Grinning, he linked his left arm with the still slightly sullen girl, his right with the blond boy. Surprised, neither of his two friends said anything for a pleasant span of a second, before Draco hissed, "let go!"

"Nope," Theo sang. "Now if only Pansy were here with me, we could be the Charming Four-"

"Really, you and your naming sense," snickered Hermione. "Charming?"

"If you don't call the item on your necklaces a charm, then I would think not," his smirk grew wider as Draco grunted from his right. "We're all wearing a charm, so we're doing it present tense, therefore the charm-ing-"

"Okay, it is a wonder how you manage to do so well in Potions with ridiculous train of thoughts like that," said Hermione, despite still smiling. Pansy had received, or rather demanded, a charm of her own which Hermione was grateful for. She shuddered at the thought of calling Professor Snape as a member of the now-made club of Charming Four.

"I don't know how many times I have to remind you, I am just that charming-"

Draco reached his right hand to Theo's tall height and lightly smacked the back of his head. "You're so charming that I want to hit you."

"Out of the four of us, someone needs to sacrifice and shine the most-"

Another cuffing sound was heard in the hallways that night. The connected shadows of the three different lengths were seen for many years to come, the girl always on the left and the tallest boy flanked by a lean boy on his right.

* * *

Theo pointed a spelling error on Ron's potions essay before whispering, "well, I'm glad they made up."

"Being in the middle was so tiring," Ron agreed as he quickly crossed out his mistake with a magical ink Fred and George had created. He had been skeptical to use something of the twin's creations, but when he watched the black ink disappear without a trace, he let out a whistle. "They should really sell this."

"I think they do, just that Hogwarts doesn't allow them."

"Ah, that explains it," said Ron. Anything against the rules, Fred and George would do.

Theo pointed at yet another mistake. "Anyways, I thought Harry would apologize first. Even though both were in the wrong."

"Nah, Harry's really stubborn when he wants to be. What's more surprising is that _Hermione_ apologized. I don't think she ever apologized for what she thought was right."

"Both have stupid prides," Theo sighed. "Thank goodness they have friends like us."

Ron grinned. "Thank Merlin I have a friend like you," he said, pointing to his essay.

The brown haired boy laughed, clapping Ron's back. "Procrastination at its finest, mate, this is literally due in less than twelve hours!"

"I have an excuse this time," said Ron in a joking whine. "I was worried about Harry and 'Mione, they hadn't spoken for almost two weeks!"

"Them and their stupid prides," the two boys laughed.

When Theo spotted Harry and Hermione entering the Great Hall, he quickly waved to them, letting them know where he and Ron were sitting. Both had a sheepish grin on their faces, awkward but relieved expressions in their eyes. They had gotten even closer after their fight, but a trip to Hagrid's hut had to have made them recall their past argument.

"I didn't think Hagrid would be willing to talk to me after we tricked him into telling us about Fluffy," Harry began as he took a seat next to Ron. "But he was surprisingly calm about it, well, at least now."

"That's good," said Theo. He then asked Harry, "Did you take 'Mione to the mirror?"

"Oh," Hermione frowned. "I still haven't seen it yet, have you, Theo?"

"I've already seen," Theo replied. "You should go tonight, with Harry."

Harry nodded, taking out his own unfinished potions essay, to which Hermione gave an exasperated eye roll. "I'll come to the dungeon entrance at eleven o'clock, so make sure you can sneak out without being seen," said Harry.

She happily agreed, opening her well over-viewed _Book of Spells_. "So what did you see in the mirror?" Hermione pretended not to notice the clattering of a dropped ink bottle as Theo's grip on it loosened mistakenly.

"My parents," said Harry. "They were holding onto my shoulders, and they looked so proud of me-"

"Listen to this, 'Mione- I was the Head Boy and a Quidditch captain-"

"-and not just my parents, the whole Potter family I think-"

Hermione shook her head, slapping Theo in the mouth with her brown curls. He grimaced, taking a strand of hair out with his fingers. She gave him an apologetic smile, before hissing to the two, "one at a time! Basic manners, you know!"

"Professor Dumbledore told me the mirror shows what the viewer desires most," said Harry, already knowing that Hermione had heard perfectly well what the two had told her despite their timings.

"What about you, Theo?"

Theo jolted at Hermione's question, squirming in his seat. "I- uh- not much."

Confused, Ron asked, "you didn't see anything?"

"Nothing worth mentioning," mumbled Theo. To this, the other three students shared a look of consideration, silently agreeing to leave the matter be, although they did not really understand.

Changing the conversation around, Hermione asked the others, "what do you think I'll see?"

"Probably all outstandings on your O.W.L.s," said Ron in a sarcastic voice.

"Oh, that'd be lovely," grinned Hermione, her lips stretching wider as Ron's face crumpled in distaste. "Maybe I'll be holding the grades to N.E.W.T.s, too."

"Wonderful," Harry and Ron mumbled, while Theo offered her a smile.

* * *

"Shh," Hermione hissed as Harry called her name from somewhere. "Where are you?"

"Right here," said Harry as he pulled her into the safety of his cloak. "Follow me."

"I'm really curious to what I'll see," whispered Hermione. She tugged down a corner of the cloak to cover herself better.

"You'll see soon enough," Harry steered their way to the unused classroom where the Mirror of the Erised was placed. After looking around to make sure there were no traces of Mrs Norris or her filthy owner- Harry slowly opened the door, just incase it would creak.

Hermione gasped as she saw what they had come for in the first place: a beautifully glinting mirror amidst the dull grey stone walls filled with cobwebs. The silver ornamental art was an overpowering source of presence, and she was immediately drawn to the writings engraved on it.

" _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi,"_ she read aloud. She didn't know any language remotely similar to the strange words, but she felt she was familiar with it. She mumbled the strange sentence repeatedly in her head, all the while glaring at the words in extreme concentration to remember.

 _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

 _Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi._

Hermione's hazels widened as she slowly figured it out. "Harry, do you know what it says on the mirror? _I show not your face, but your heart's desire!_ "

She frowned when she didn't receive a reply. "Harry?"

"Yeah-" said Harry in a tranced voice. "Hermione, come see-"

When she poked her head around to see her own reflection, her reflected vision shifted- Harry disappeared- and appeared herself, holding on to a large present box. She squinted, trying to see if there was anything else to her supposed desire of heart- but nothing else appeared, just the red box, bigger than half her body.

"What do you see?"

Hermione moved her hands to make her reflected self open the box. Her other self remained still, giving her a small smile as she slowly shook her head. "What in the name of Sweet Merlin-" began Hermione. "Harry, _this can't be what I desire!_ "

"So what _is_ it that you're seeing?" asked Harry.

"A box! A sodding present box! And it's not even letting me open it!"

Harry gave her a startled look. "Are you maybe not wishing hard enough for it?"

"I didn't even know all my heart wanted was a present box." Hermione said in a disappointed tone. Then she paused, catching the eye of her reflection as it- or she- lowered herself to set the massive box on the ground. The second-Hermione mimicked trying to open the package, twisting the ribbons, clawing between the case and the cover, even attempting to squish it down with her weight. Nothing happened, and the box remained unharmed.

"Maybe the act of what your reflection is doing?" Harry suggested. "Professor Dumbledore saw himself taking out a pair of woolen socks-"

"I'm trying to open it, but it doesn't open."

Harry's eyebrows furrowed as he tried to think. "Then your biggest desire is secrecy?"

Alarmed, Hermione fumbled with her words. "It can't be- I don't think I have any secrets from you guys," she wrecked her brain as she desperately tried to come up with a comprehensible reason- "am I unknowingly holding back on something?"

"I don't know," Harry sighed finally. His black hair had gotten more messy between his cognitive activity, with him pulling on his hair continually. "The mirror could be wrong, or maybe you aren't meant to find out yet."

She let out a discouraged groan, gathering the Cloak of Invisibility in her arms. "You're right, I'm not going to think upon this any longer. There are more important things requiring my attention-"

"-Like the final exams," Harry added dryly.

Hermione scoffed, "it's never too early to start preparing!"

"Right, right," said Harry as they shared the cloak together.

Walking back to the Slytherin dormitories, Hermione couldn't help but ask, "Harry, what do you think Theo saw?"

Harry was silent for a few lasting footsteps before he quietly answered, "I think he also saw his parents. I heard him whisper 'mum', but don't tell him that. I don't think he wants anybody knowing."

"Oh, alright," she agreed. She wondered, though, what the reflection of Theo had been doing with his mum, in the alluring vision provided by the enchanted mirror.

"Then, goodnight," said Harry.

"Goodnight. Don't get caught on your way back, okay?"

Harry gave a nod of assurance, and then disappeared into the thin air with a swish of his cloak.

Sighing, she slowly made her way back to her room, flopped on the bed, her brain still continuing to actively buzz with her newest mystery.

* * *

At last, the lightings seeping in from the dungeon windows had changed- _twice_ \- , the sun now glaring at those who dared to wander outside. The school year was reaching its end, and school work had gotten lenient, allowing students to bask in the summer laziness. Hermione was once again sitting in the comfortable seats of the well-furnitured common room, looking into a thick book, one that was bigger than her head.

Across from her, Draco Malfoy was also reading a book- a sophisticated one, one fit for his self-decided future role in his house, _Quidditch Through the Years_.

The two had read in silence for the past few hours, each preferring to keep to their own, which was why Hermione had almost knocked herself off her seat when Draco began, "say, Granger-"

"Y-yes?" Her breath had caught in her throat, her face still rushing from the short lasted bursts of adrenaline due to her almost-fall. She cleared her throat, hoping to look not as nervous as she clearly felt. "What?"

"You haven't seen Theo today, have you?"

She gave him an unimpressed stare. "It's Sunday, he's probably out with Harry and Ron."

He shook his head, clicking his tongue in pseudo-pity. "Shame, the company you keep-"

"One of whom you were trying to befriend in the beginning of the year-"

Draco's ears changed into a light shade of pink. "Only because father wanted me to-"

"Father, father, father," Hermione mocked. "Is that really all you think about?"

"Do not insult my father-"

"I'm not insulting him," she said in a sweet voice, "I'm insulting _you_ , Malfoy. Always using your father as an excuse, shame on you."

Draco snarled from his seat, his eyes blazing with an almost feral like hatred. "Just because I've begun to tolerate you, Granger, it does not mean you can step over the lines," he hissed in a dangerous tone.

"I find it funny you somehow think yourself above me to _tolerate_ me, Malfoy," Hermione flipped her thick curtain of hair back, huffing in disdain. "You and I both know Theo's the only factor keeping us from strangling each other."

"Which is why I've asked, I repeat, you haven't seen Theo today, have you?" Draco narrowed his eyes when Hermione slowly plastered a smile to her face.

"I repeat, like I've said, he's probably with Harry and Ron," she mimicked. She opened her mouth to further aggravate her verbal-dispute partner, when she felt an alien feel of a twitch inside her clothes. Hermione's eyes snapped to Draco's as he groaned and swore, "Granger, get your wand. We need to leave, _now_."

Looking down, she noticed her lily charm was pulling against her clothes, as if to indicate a direction to her, and when she grabbed it to examine the charm she saw the miniscule writing of _Fluffy_.

She shrieked, her mind racing faster than Nimubs 2000, as her charm glowed once more, this time with a different message: _Get Help_.

"Malfoy!" she yelled, "we need to find the Headmaster! Come on!"

Scrambling with fearful hearts beating inside them, Hermione and Draco left the dungeon to sprint towards the Headmaster's office. They had no time, not even a few seconds for Draco to inquire what in the name of Merlin was Fluffy, because they realised their charms would have not glowed if not for extreme necessity of assistance.

Hermione desperately prayed only one of her friends had sent the message. She had an inkling of idea who the message sender was, and knowing her luck, all three of her boys were in grave danger. The fools! They should have known better to go past Fluffy without her to help them!

Halfway to their wanted destination, they slammed into a hard body, and they looked up from their crash to find Severus Snape, his eyes also flashing with rare forms of concern. "Get up," he said impatiently to his students on the floor. "We have to go, I have already contacted the Headmaster. He should have arrived there by now."

"Professor," Draco found the breath to ask, "what has happened-"

"I do not know for sure, Mr Malfoy, but we must hurry, we do not know what has become of Theodore Nott," said Snape as he swept down the hall with rapid clacks of his shoes.

When they reached the restricted section of the third floor, Hermione gulped down a nervous glance and opened the door, fully prepared to sing with her off-pitch singing voice. Next to her, barely touching, Draco let out a surprised sound, when one of the three heads of the dog growled menacingly at their unexpected visitors.

"Easy, Fluffy…" Hermione whispered, her planned song withering between her lips, but her wand out in caution.

Draco gave her a disbelieving scoff, " _that's_ Fluffy? A very well matching name, _I dare say_." In his mind, he was desperately trying to calm his fastening heart, refusing to be overwhelmed by the dog- despite the fact it had three heads and three sets of eyes that he could have sworn were looking at him like he was a gigantic slab of steak. But he thought of Canis and the troll he had fought, and then he was no longer as afraid. Even with three heads, the Canis-like animal was still better than the troll, he thought.

From the insides of his black cloak, Snape drew out a small harp, silently charming it to play on its own. He set it down on the floor, waiting for the dog heads to fall asleep. He magically moved the gigantic dog a few metres away from the trap door, ready to jump in-

"Professor!" yelled a voice from inside the door. "Is that you?"

Hermione immediately felt relief flood her senses as she recognized the speaker to be Theo. "Listen! Are you okay? Do you think you can climb up?"

"Ron's with me- I can only use one of my hands at the moment. Help me up?"

Draco crouched down the opening, trying to see where his friend was. "Light it up, Granger, I need to check if he's there."

Without even complaining to his bossy attitude, she swiftly sent out a strong bright light, waiting next to Malfoy as two small heads appeared within the viewable area, her heart forgetting to beat as one disturbingly red head came into her sight.

The light reflected off the blood, making Ron's hair look sleek, drenched in crimson red. He was unconscious and was being half-carried, half-dragged over Theo's back, their similar tall heights making his feet drag uselessly on the ground.

" _Levicorpus,"_ said Snape, calculating his wrist movement as the injured party was carefully manoeuvred out of the pitch.

Theo looked uninjured, the blood on his shirt being Ron's. "Ron played a human sized wizard chess," he explained. "He sacrificed himself."

Hermione quickly casted healing spells, erasing the minor cuts and bruises on both boys, simultaneously catching the attention of Snape, who seemed to take note of her skills under surreptitious glances. The Slytherin Head took several phials of potions out, tilting the severely injured boy's head back, and trickling some sorts of healing potions down his throat.

Draco was beside Theo, his back purposely turned to Ron as he quickly willed his snake charm to relay on the message they were safe to Pansy. He was sure she would be pacing back and forth wherever she was, her face grey with worry.

"...Harry," Ron mumbled out as he came around, his teeth bloodied from the inner cuts of his mouth. Satisfied, Snape shut his last phial of potion, choosing to use his wand this time to bring Ron's head wound to a minimum damage. It was not perfect, but it would do until the redhead was seen to by Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione smiled weakly. She put a soothing hand over his forehead to see if his temperature had risen. "Professor Dumbledore is down there," she explained.

"How-"

"We have our ways, Weasel," sneered Malfoy. Then to Theo he said in a softer tone, "welcome back."

Theo laughed, his voice scratchy. "Glad you came at the right time, the Headmaster took our broom to get to where Harry is-"

"He should have apparated!" Draco said in impulse. Leaving other students in need to just save that prat Potter- no wonder his father thought Dumbledore as an incompetent Headmaster.

"You can't, it's written in-" pipped Hermione.

" _Hogwarts: A History_ , yes, I'm quite aware," came the snapping reply. He had heard her quote the book so many times throughout the school year that he felt he had read the book himself.

"Well, you should have thought before speaking…" Hermione's words died in her throat as Dumbledore came swishing out of the trapdoor, his robes fluttering wildly with the speed of the broom. He was he was holding to a limp body of Harry, who seemed to be clutching onto a palm-sized gem, a ruby red gem… Her eye widened as she realised the identification of the rock.

"Thank you, Severus," said the white bearded wizard. Without waiting for a reply, he continued to whizz past them, presumably to the hospital wing. Hermione trembled.

Harry had done it! He had saved the Sorcerer's Stone _and_ gotten away, alive! Her eyes swam with unvoiced mirth and relief, and she patted both Theo and Ron's shoulders in an assuring way. They reciprocated with adorably arrogant smirks.

"You guys-" her voice choked with mixed emotions of joy and achievement. "I'm so proud of you all."

She did not care if Malfoy heard her sob, because her positive tears were the rewards to, and the proof of, the friends' hard efforts to keep safe their new home; Hogwarts.

Together, they had protected their home.

* * *

 **AN:** Whew... almost done with Year 1...

If you enjoyed this chapter, please **REVIEW!**


	5. Scylla

**05**

 **a**

 _A Monster of a Deadly Whirlpool_

Hermione Jean Granger had been cuddled into her window seat, covered with plush blankets despite the warm weather and books of various thicknesses. It was her favourite spot to read, apart from her bed, as the morning light shining through the window would cast a fairy-tale-like aura that captivated Hermione, especially when reading fictions.

Before she had known the existence of magic, she would sit at her reading area, and pretend to be the heroine of a feminist-centric medieval fantasy adventure story; engaging herself in imaginative battles against evil dragons to save those in distress, damsels and knights alike.

Her first month and a few weeks of summer break had been marvelous; she had secretly brought a few memoirs of the wizarding world, if the not so discreet piles of magical sweets weren't telling already. She had received a fairly large stash of Honeydukes goods from the Weasley twins, and had gotten a few more as bribery when she had commented, "don't think you can get away from sneaking out of the school all the time, though these candies _are_ yummy."

Smirking, she let out a contented sigh as she closed her eyes in the direction of the window, feeling the flashes of white and yellow swarm behind her eyelids as she allowed the weather to soak into her. Warm, but not too hot for her to remove the blankets, full of sunshine, with moments of cooling rain.

This was the very definition of a perfect summer vacation, she thought.

Hermione had almost fallen into the tempting realm of literary imagination, light sleep slowly consuming her, when the doorbell rang. She groaned, knowing she would have to get it herself as no one else was at home.

With trudging feet, she climbed down two stairs and crossed the living room until she came to stand in front of the door. She let out a sigh, hoping the person on the other side of the door was just a salesman or girls selling cookies. While she hated to be rude, they were easy to refuse and Hermione didn't want to be interrupted anymore; she very much needed her bonding time with her books.

"Coming," she called reluctantly. Hermione undid some locks, twisting and unchaining, until finally she turned the knob to reveal-

"Theo," she said in a shocked voice. "What? What are you doing here? I thought we were meeting near the end of the break."

The tall brown haired boy grinned widely, his eyes twinkling in a way only youngsters could manage to. "We were," he clarified. "But I missed you so much, and I thought you could come over where I'm staying for the remaining week of break!"

Hermione had missed the bright energy of Theo, and she grinned despite herself. Trying to keep an indifferent face, she raised her eyebrow. "And you thought coming over to ask without even a prior notice was smart? How did you even get here anyways?"

"The muggle way, MaiMai," said Theo as he gave her a smirk of triumph. "I took the tram and everything, but I swear someone's making them move with magic-"

"What about the money?" Hermione's eyes widened at the mental image of Theo holding out several sickles, and greedy adults who could recognise true silver taking the wizarding money with their grubby hands, forever imprinting a bad image of the muggle world in Theo's mind. She hoped desperately that Theo instead tried to pay in knuts.

Theo sniggered, opening his left fist to unveil a few sweat-wrinkled bills, folded to fit into his palm along with several crowns. "You see, I do have a brain! Enough for me to travel in the muggle world alone!"

"You came alone?" She asked in concern, "what about your parents? Do they know you're here?"

Hermione saw her friend's eyes flash with a brief passing of guilt, but his green-hazel eyes shined as he told her, "don't worry, my dad won't worry. And I've had help getting _into_ this world, so no worries!"

"Oh, okay," she said.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me in?" complained Theo, putting up his best puppy look. "After going on the muggle-world-adventure, I'm exhausted."

"Right! Of course!" Hermione quickly placed back her normally-drilled manners, stepping aside to let him in. She led him to the living room couch, vaguely remembering the last wizarding guest that had sat there, Professor McGonagall. She grinned at the memory as she asked him if he wanted some tea.

"Nah, it's alright," replied Theo, looking around the house with wide eyes. "Merlin, Hermione, your house is so _cozy_." His eyes traveled from the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves lining the east wall of the living room, right next to the wall accommodating the fire place.

Unsure of what to do or say, because Theo really had taken her in surprise, she sat across him, simply waiting for him to say something first. Theo seemed to understand her thoughts, because he quickly dug around pants pocket and brought out a- again, wrinkled and folded- piece of paper.

"Read it," said Theo. Hermione looked at him in slight confusion, wondering what he was doing with the muggle writing material. She carefully unfolded it, and quickly scanned the words written.

It was an invitation of sorts, she guessed, because it had a wobbly handwriting of her name and time, marked with an even less legible signature near the end of the letter.

"To Miss Hermione Granger," she began to slowly read aloud, deciphering the poor script. "You are invited to spend the last... week of summer break with Master Theodore Nott, going straight to Hogwarts from your stay. Please come," she frowned when she still couldn't decode the signature.

"Who wrote this?" she sighed. "Please don't tell me it's you, Theo."

"Please, I could probably write better with my toes," scoffed Theo, waving his hand in light-hearted dismissal. "You'll meet her soon, just come with me!"

"Right now?"

"When, if not now?"

Hermione shook her head, frowning when Theo's face fell. "My parents are out, I need to get permission."

"Oh, that's okay, I made sure the invitation was delivered to your parents, too!"

"They don't even know where I'm going," she argued. "They'll get worried."

"Just come- please?"

As if on cue, a small creature with pale skin and eyes the size of apples suddenly appeared in her living room with a sharp snapping sound. Hermione felt her eyebrows almost reach her hairline- what was this? No wait- she read about something similar in a book some time ago- dirty clothes, bat-like ears, innocent eyes...

"A house elf," she breathed out in awe. "Theo, you know a house elf?"

Theo grinned. "Know one? I own one. Her name's Pinky, 'Mione. She's the one who wrote the letter."

"You _own_ one?" she asked in an alarmed voice. "She's enslaved? You're slaving her around?"

Before Theo could explain himself, his elf- no- Pinky, stomped her foot in a harmless frustration. "No, Master is kind to Pinky! Pinky is happy! "

"Pinky, manners," he warned. "Hermione's one of my best friends, show her respect."

Hermione glared at Theo. "Don't order her around- Theo, don't enslave her like that."

"Hermione, trust me when I say I'm not," Theo sighed. "She's already been free once, look at her clothes," said Theo. Pinky was wearing a baby pink dress with frills in the hem, glittering with gold sparkles that reminded Hermione of children's princess costumes. The outfit was surprisingly clean, she realised. "I accidentally dressed up her in that when I was, I dunno, three or something. You know what giving her clothes mean, right?"

She nodded. She knew a lot about the elves from her books, especially since she read about the elvish serfdom.

Theo continued, "I heard she cried so much when she was freed. She wouldn't leave my side until my mum put her back into my ownership."

"Master is right, Pinky is serving Master! Pinky is happy, Miss knows nothing!" The tiny elf squeaked from behind Theo's legs. "Pinky is proud to be serving Master-"

"Pinky," he sighed. "Did you inform her parents?" he cut to the chase, not wanting to discuss about the treatment of elves any further. He knew Hermione would nag him for several hours about Pinky, and frankly, he couldn't care for a rant at the moment.

He purposely overlooked Hermione's eyes as Pinky said with a vigorous nodding of head, "Pinky is a good elf, Pinky follows Master's orders."

"And their answer was-?"

"Miss Granger is okay to go with Master Nott!" Pinky chirped excitedly, "Is Master Nott happy?"

Theo grinned as he petted his elf's bony shoulder. "Yes, Pinky, I'm so glad. Thank you for your work. You may go now."

With a broad smile of joyful pride, the house elf disappeared with another sharp snap. Hermione continued to look at Theo with a disapproving look. She couldn't believe one of her closest friends- a kindhearted, and caring one at that- _owned_ an elf, and was unashamed of it! Not to mention, her parents- how could they just agree to _an elf_ , allowing her to go who knows where with her friend for a week?

She shook her head. "Theo-"

"Well, aren't you glad we can go?" he smiled. "You can nag someone else about the treatment of elves, _later_."

Hermione frowned, her mind whirling in a rapid speed to plan ahead her speech. Maybe she could even start a small group with members who agree on the requirement of freedom to the elves- and then expand from there to form a large society-

"'Mione," Theo whined. "Pack your things so we can go already!"

"Okay, okay," she said with a whiff, making a small lock of her bangs rise slightly. "I've already packed the things I'll need for Hogwarts anyways, let me just add a few more things."

"Great."

"I still can't believe my parents agreed. This is moving on all too fast," she murmured as she made her way back upstairs.

"Call me if you need my help!" yelled Theo from the living room.

"No, just stay there and make yourself at home," she yelled back.

"Cool, can I have some of the cookies?"

Hermione poked her head from the stairways and replied, "sure, as long as you don't do anything bad."

Theo gave her an innocent look. "I'm always good. MaiMai, you are too suspicious of me, I swear."

She gave him an unbelieving snort as she continued to climb upstairs to her room. They would probably take the muggle way to the popular pub, Leaky Cauldron. In order to do so, she figured they needed some muggle money. Hermione grabbed a big piggy bank, whispering her condolences before she slit the belly with a cutter knife she kept in her desk for craft purposes.

"Your sacrifice will not be forgotten," said Hermione as she emptied out the contents into a small drawstring bag. The coins clashed to each other heavily, giving her wealthy bell-like rings. She also took out her wallet from her hiding place- behind her favourite set of books, _The Song of the Lioness_ by _Tamora Pierce_ \- also tucking her wad of bills into her bag. She had planned to stop by Gringotts before school started, anyways.

Within moments, she had reappeared in the bottom of the stairs, standing in front of Theo with her luggages. She raised an eyebrow. "Well? I'm ready, Theo."

Theo beamed, taking one of her bags. Thankfully, they all had wheels attached on them, otherwise he would have had trouble moving one, as both luggages were weighed down with- several boxes of books.

"Merlin," he complained. "Are you planning to spend the whole year reading?"

"I'd like to," she joked. "But I'm probably going to have to keep an eye on you and Harry and Ron- I won't have nearly all the time I'd like to have to read."

"True," he admitted.

When Hermione and Theo both made it out of the house, she lifted a small flower pot, unnoticeable by passersby and first-time visitors, and grabbed the spare key hidden underneath.

With a small click, the door was locked shut.

* * *

"You have to be kidding me," Hermione whispered furiously to Theo. She pointed past the gigantic mansion- to the large pond currently occupied by- a noirette and a blond.

She had at first been very impressed with the manor- thinking it was Theo's. But as she scanned her surroundings of impressive gardens and a beautiful fountain, she found herself getting sicker by the second.

"Come on, 'Mione," said Theo, giving her a pleading look. "Just go in, okay? Pansy is waiting for you-"

"You lied, Theo-"

"I didn't lie," he protested. "I really am staying here for the summer."

Hermione scoffed, "and Malfoy is expecting me, I suppose?"

Theo visibly sulked, slouching against her luggages. "No, but he won't refuse you. Pansy and I want you here, and majority wins, right?"

"Unless the person protesting is the owner of the house-"

"-which he isn't, by the way," countered Theo. "Malfoy Manor is still owned by his parents, who are out of the town for the week-"

She cut him off. "Why?" She shuddered to think there was one more set of parents apart from hers who would willingly leave an underaged minor alone in this... humongous house.

"Mrs Malfoy is pregnant, so Mr Malfoy took her for a nice vacation somewhere in Italy," before Hermione could say something again he continued, "and the elves take great care of children, so Mr and Mrs Malfoy left Draco in their care."

Hermione almost choked on her own saliva. "Malfoy owns more than one elf?"

"Well, they are wealthy, just look at this place." Theo waved his hand around bluntly. "Most Slytherin families have at least one, even my house have three."

"Atrocious," Hermione spat in distaste.

"Well, nothing you can do about it, MaiMai."

She shook her head, "Theo, the house elves should be treated-"

"HERMIONE!" came a thrilled scream as a raven haired girl came flying to her, squeezing the breath- and possibly the life- out of her with a deathly hug.

"Pa..Pansy," Hermione croaked, half gargling the name and half chuckling. "Air, I-I need-"

"Oops," Pansy pulled back with an apologetic face. "Sorry."

"No, don't be. It's great to see you again." And it was true. Her previous exasperation had melted away with the greetings from her female friend.

The said friend bounced excitedly, holding onto Hermione's hands as she cried, "you have to be staying for the week, right? _Right?_ "

"Um," said Hermione weakly. "I, I guess so."

"No," growled a voice as Draco Malfoy came into her view. "No way."

"Yes, way." Theo said firmly. "You said it was okay to invite friends-"

"You already did," replied Malfoy as he pointed at Pansy.

"Stressing on the 's' here, _friends_."

The four of them were standing on the stone patio of the manor, three of them regarding a certain blond wizard as he narrowed his eyes at them. After what felt like an eternity, Draco gave a small nod. "Fine," he hissed. Then he smirked as he jerked his chin towards the front door. "Why don't you all come in, Granger first."

Surprised, she followed him in with a numb feeling, wondering what was up with him. Although they tolerated each other for the sake of their mutual friends, they were never on friendly terms. Except for the time they team-worked when the idiot trio- that was what Hermione was calling the three who went down to blindly chase after You-know-who- had gotten themselves into danger. Maybe-? Dare she hope...?

Her questions were answered the moment she walked into the entrance halls, welcomed by screeching sounds as the portraits lined on the walls all turned their eyes full of hatred to her.

 _"A mudblood! The mere thought of filth disgracing the house of Malfoys-"_

 _"Begone! Scum!"_

Other howling sounds of male and female both alike ricocheted against the cold walls, making Hermione tremble. Not only did they hurt emotionally, but she could actually feel her eardrums rattle from the high-pitched shrieks.

Trying to hold her tears at the demeaning term for her being roared over and over again, she clamped her hands over her ears and ran straight ahead to where she saw a long door, decorated with a bronze handle. Not being able to administer her friends' yells over the wails of the portraits, she temporarily unmuffled her ears, leaving herself unguarded for a few seconds it took her to open the door and scurry into the room.

She continued to run, but toppled down near the center of the room, underneath an ornamental chandelier. She saw the sunlight bounce off the spectacularly arranged crystals to the floor, and onto her face as she tried to gather her breath.

With a slam, Pansy shut the door behind her angrily. "Draco," she growled.

Draco Malfoy shrugged, giving her an indifferent look. "I did as any host would do- invited her in."

"You didn't close off the portraits," said Theo.

"I didn't know she would be coming now, did I?"

Frustrated, Theo combed through his messy brown hair with angry strokes. "You could've gone ahead of us."

"I forgot, sorry about that Granger," said Draco as he turned around with his hands in his pockets. He continued in a cocky voice, "you're welcome to leave, if this house has proven to be too much of a stress to you."

Rising from her befriended floor- it had done a lovely job at calming her down- she rasped out, "no, Malfoy. I actually find this room very endearing." She made a point to look around the room, strengthening what she had just said.

His pale complexion did not change, but one of his eyebrow twitched somewhat. "Glad you do, Granger," he said.

"Right," she dusted non-existing dusts from her muggle-styled jeans, giving Theo and Pansy a shaky grin. "Wanna help me move my things?"

Hermione was once again surprised when Draco grabbed one of her heavier bags alongside Theo, leaving Pansy and Hermione with nothing to carry.

"What?" demanded Draco when Hermione continued to stare at him in befuddlement. "My mother taught me manners-"

"Sorry, didn't realise until now," said Hermione in a sweet voice as she reached down to help Theo with her own luggage.

Malfoy jeered, "should I not?"

Before Hermione could retort, Pansy growled, "I'm going to kill you if you do, Draco Lucius Malfoy, I'm not carrying this upstairs by myself." She was behind the bag Malfoy was pulling, hidden by the height of it.

"I'll just summon the elves-"

 _"Don't you dare,"_ Hermione raised her voice suddenly, surprising her kind-of-enemy-kind-of-not and Pansy, making them jolt with her sharp tone. "They are not beings you can order for your own convenience-"

"-she met Pinky," sighed Theo as he explained the turnout of events of their morning to the rest.

"But Hermione-" Pansy tried to coax her, "they _want_ to serve us. You can't take that away from them."

"Yes," Hermione agreed with great reluctance. "But this is something we can do ourselves, so don't call over the poor elves for nothing."

Draco gave her an irritated glare, hissing out some profanities she couldn't quite catch, but all the while continuing to drag her luggage up the bumpy stairway. With a satisfied twitch of lip, Hermione kept her chin held up high in pride. She had actually managed to change Draco Malfoy's mind!

That alone was a big step, considering their previous year of history.

* * *

The four kids were splayed out on top of a gigantic blanket, spread over the fluffy grass as they stared at somewhere- anywhere- for they had ran out of ideas to play with.

"This is immensely boring," Hermione commented as she watched absentmindedly at a bird flying by. She was on her fourth day of stay in the manor, with three more to go before school started.

From her right Pansy nodded, "incredibly boring. What do we do now?"

"How about taking a dip in the pond?" suggested Theo.

"Done that."

"Quidditch," said Draco.

Hermione gave out a puff, folding her arms behind her head when her neck started to hurt. "Done that, too. Everyday," she said dryly.

He glowered, "so we've done swimming, flying, eating, climbing trees, even _reading ahead of our curriculum_ -"

"Not to mention _revising_ our year one books-" added Theo from Hermione's left. "We might have as well as gone to Professor Snape's house!"

"I actually thought it was a time well spent," said Hermione, her offended look doing nothing to shame the boys.

"Yes, for _you_ , Granger."

"Then what do you suppose we do?" snapped Hermione.

"What about taking an early trip to Diagon Alley, instead of going tomorrow," brightened Pansy. "We could go shopping for school supplies, and drop by the ice cream parlor, maybe even Magical Menagerie-"

"-BROOMSTIX!" Theo yelled, grabbing Draco by the wrist. "Oh my one-toed socks, we need to prepare for our big debut in the Slytherin team!"

Hermione nodded to herself, "I needed to go to Gringotts anyways, and maybe buy some more quills-"

"Then Diagon Alley it is," decided Pansy. She rapidly stood up, holding out her hand for Hermione. "Come on, we need to get dressed!"

"Or we can just go the way we are-"

"Are you kidding me? We're not walking around town looking like _this!_ " She waved to their grass-stained clothes from tumbling with each other, and the few wilted flowers they forgot to take out of their hairs after wearing the handmade flora-wreaths.

"Fine, fine," grumbled Hermione as she followed her friend into the house. "We'll be back in around ten minutes," she said to the boys over her shoulder.

"Make that an hour!" sniggered Theo. "Knowing Pansy, that'd be being nice!"

"Shut up Theo!" came the yell of Pansy. "I do not take that long!"

"She does," said Theo and Draco at the same time. Smirking, they proceeded to give each other a high five.

Watching this, Hermione rolled her eyes. "Boys," she said.

When she had also disappeared into the house, Theo shook his head muttering, "girls." Draco let out a laugh in agreement.

"Say," Theo probed Draco in the ribs. "I bet one galleon that it's going to take them at least an hour. So why don't we go swim?" he insisted his initial idea, feeling a slow trickle of a built up sweat making his way down his scalp.

"Two galleons," said Draco.

"Oh, you're on." Theo smirked confidently.

* * *

When Hermione left Pansy to her own beauty time, she came back to the backyard of the manor, looking for the boys. She had already re-dressed, and she had admitted to both herself and Pansy, that she actually looked better in the wizarding-styled robes Pansy had lent her, a dark skirt topped with a soft blouse, somehow making her look different from her muggle clothes.

Squinting her eyes against the glare of the sun, she checked her surroundings for blobs of brown and white-gold, until she came across upon the splashes in the pond.

She would have just let it pass if not for the fact Theo was screaming over his lungs, and the splashes seemed too unnatural for it to be caused by the boys' playing. Quickly, she ran over to the pond, her heart thudding with each stride as she came up with over a hundred scenarios to the situation- until her feet touched the water.

Theo was desperately clinging, no, attempting to drag Malfoy across the pond. But even a swimming novice could have noticed his strength in the dangerous situation, Theo was lagging behind with each stroke he tried to take. Malfoy was too heavy for Theo to fully carry them both to the shore, and Hermione knew she had to help. Or else both could drown.

She paused only to take her shoes and socks off, as she knew they'd only drag her down in the water. With practiced strokes, she reached the boys in short time, swimming behind Malfoy to help lessen Theo's burden.

Hermione kicked wildly to maintain her face above the water all the while making sure Malfoy experienced the same. He had his eyes closed, and Hermione kicked harder through gritted teeth, until they reached the shore.

As Theo hacked out bits of water he had swallowed, Hermione put her ears onto Malfoy's chest, straining her ears for a heartbeat over Theo's coughs.

She couldn't get any.

Urgent need to save him kicked in, and Hermione immediately squeezed his nose between her fingers as she wrecked her brain to remember how a CPR was supposed to be performed.

Tip the head, blow into him twice and with joined hands push-

 _No, screw this,_ Hermione snarled innerly. She had no time to be checking the facts. Instead, her hands moved automatically, pumping his heart several times before she paused to breathe into his mouth. She did not even hear Pansy's gasp as her friend came out of the house, fully dressed. Hermione had nothing on her mind but the self-proposed order to pump, breathe air into him, and pump again.

Suddenly, a strike of blue glowing light surrounded Draco- and Hermione stopped her emergency treatment in shock. Nevertheless, she tried to pump his chest again, her eyebrows lifting when she realised the light was warm- so a healing spell rather than an attacking one- when Narcissa Malfoy whispered, "Draco."

Whipping around, Hermione came face to face with a beautiful woman and an equally beautiful- in a non-feminine way despite the long hair- man. They both had the hair traits similar to Draco, so Hermione stood up from her spot, letting his parents come to the aid.

Newly changed clothes dripping with water, she watched silently as the attractive couple began to murmur numerous sets of spells, the father even extending his help to Theo who seemed petrified of his friend's condition.

After a few minutes, which to Hermione felt like a several hours, the parents let out a sigh of relief once they assured Draco was safe, and turned around to address her.

Hermione beat them to the chase, however, fully aware what their reactions would be once they found out a mudbl-, no, a muggle-born had been staying in their house. She would rather take the burn of her own accord. "I'm Hermione Granger, Mr Mrs Malfoy, and uhm-"

Narcissa's pale face lit up in recognition. "You're Miss Granger? I've heard of you," she said.

From behind, Theo pipped, "she's a Slytherin." He hoped this would blunt their attacks on Hermione.

"We're quite aware, Theo," drawled Lucius. Hermione looked up at the similar way of speech to a certain almost-drowned boy, taken aback when the Malfoy Patriarch gave her what resembled a tight smile. "We thank you, Miss Granger, for saving Draco's life-"

"No, no sir, no need to thank me," she quickly replied.

"Dear," Narcissa said in a warmer tone of voice compared to Lucius, "I cannot thank you enough." She flicked her wand to Hermione's clothes, instantly drying them. "How can we repay you?"

Hermione noticed Lucius didn't look all too happy at the prospect of thanking her further, but she was still too shaken up to focus on the misplaced look of detest. "N-nothing, ma'am, he's a..." _not exactly a friend, but not a complete enemy..._ "...Housemate," she finished weakly. "Of course I'd try to save him if I could."

Narcissa nuzzled into her son, holding him tightly as he suddenly coughed, drifting back into consciousness. "Mum?"

"Draco!" Lucius and Narcissa both cried, and Pansy and Theo came to his side within moments. "Do you feel okay?"

"Yeah..." he frowned but a bit. "What happened?" Draco flexed his fingers, testing his limbs one by one. "I don't feel too hurt," said Malfoy.

His mother smothered him into a crushing hug, making his ears turn pink. "Only because I used a year's worth of healing spells on you," she whispered thickly.

Hermione saw the tears forming on the woman's eyes, but they quickly disappeared as Draco said, "if I'm fine now, can we continue to go to Diagon Alley?"

"Draco, you just almost drowned," said Theo. "Your leg got caught by something in the water and almost _died._ "

" _Almost,_ " replied Draco. "We were planning to go there, and I'm fine now, so let's continue with our plan-"

"No," snapped Hermione, earning a start from the older woman. "We can go tomorrow, like we _originally_ planned."

"It won't make a difference-"

"It will," she narrowed her eyes. "Or have you forgotten you just literally lost consciousness _in my arms?_ " Hermione smirked, proudly patting herself in the shoulders as she felt a surge of what she identified as- Slytherin tenancies, rushing through her veins.

"I. Did. Not." Draco's voice was low with the growl, his storm grey eyes threatening. "I don't even remember you coming into the lake," he bluffed.

"It's okay Malfoy. It is only natural that you don't remember. I'd die from embarrassment if I had fainted in _your_ arms." Of course, he really hadn't, passed out in her hold. But no one, especially Theo, was bothering to correct her, so she decided to just go with her lie.

"You lie."

"Do I? We can buy one of those veritaserums in Diagon Alley, or even in the dark streets," she said, referring to Knockturn Alley. "And then we could go to the Daily Prophet's main office and I can give them some information on your new adventure in the pond-"

"Fine," Draco snapped. "Have it your way."

"Great," she gave him a false smile, and bowed to Lucius in respect. "Sorry, sir, for barging into your house without permission from the actual owner."

Lucius's lips curled in slight distaste, nonetheless a well disguised one. However, as much as he detested mudbloods, he had to admit he could find no prominent fault within her other than her birth. Yet, her one fault was an obtrusive one, one he could not ignore. "...It is of no problem," he said in a guarded tone, void of emotions.

"Yes, do not feel uncomfortable," Narcissa grinned. "Would you like to have a cup of tea with me, Miss Granger? Pansy, too, of course."

"Please, Mrs Malfoy, call me Hermione," she replied politely.

"Well, Hermione," said Narcissa. "Do you prefer earl grey, or english breakfast?"

"Earl grey, Mrs Malfoy." Pansy and Hermione said at the same time. Then they grinned to each other, having known each other's tastes for a year.

Narcissa snapped her fingers to summon a house elf, ordering him to prepare the refreshments. Hermione naturally frowned at this. The pregnant woman's commands were not necessarily impolite to the elf, but not entirely a cordial one either.

It was a simple matter of hierarchy, Hermione realised. The Malfoys were on top, whereas the elves served their owners, both sides understanding their statuses.

She briefly considered saying something about the elves, but quickly decided against it as she was currently a guest, and the elf-owner was her host. Despite her inner warrior arguing within her thoughts, she kept her mouth shut, choosing to look to the floor whenever a poor elf slinked by, obviously under the stress of being overworked, at least to her opinion.

At the back yard, around the outdoor tea table sat the four children, sipping their tea as small exchanges of light conversations were passed around. Her heart continued to beat fast whenever she thought of the pond- the images of Theo and Malfoy splashing against the force of water was truly horrific- so she tried to calm herself down with her cup of earl grey.

She would have succeeded to do so, if she hadn't seen the scene of what would happen next. An elf had dropped a teaspoon as he retreated to the house, and Lucius, coming out to check on his wife, had witnessed it. Immediately, to Hermione's dismay, Lucius sent the elf flying past a couple metres with a kick, making the elf momentarily clutch his midriff in pain.

Hermione choked on her tea, drawing the attention of everybody sitting at the table. Theo and Pansy immediately turned their eyes, knowing they couldn't do anything about it, and neither could Hermione.

"Do your work properly-" Lucius gritted out, aiming a series of shorter kicks to the elf. "Do not let me see you again today."

"I'm so sorry, Master Malfoy, terribly sorry."

"Make sure to learn from your mistakes. I do not like incompetent beings, especially not in my own home."

"Yes, sir," the elf whimpered.

Another elf, a female one Hermione guessed, walked by clicking her tongue at him. "Disgrace to hardworking elves!" she squeaked as she stepped over the male elf on the ground.

Taking no notice, Lucius swiftly turned and left, striding towards the party, his bad mood lifting as he eyed his wife and her stomach.

"Thank you, sir, Noodey thanks you!" The elf squealed to Lucius's back. "Noodey is thankful for Master's kindness!"

Sickening taste of vile collected behind her throat, and she could not refrain herself no longer, she needed to speak- to say _something_ -

"Mother," said Draco, making all eyes turn to him including his father's. "I still want to go to Diagon Alley." His stone colored eyes found Hermione's hazels for a fleeting second before he gave a subtle shake of head. He let his eyes travel to the Malfoy head, warning her not to cross paths with the man.

Startled, Hermione became stiff in her spot. She backtracked what she had been about to say, and realised with a cold chill, she could have been on the receiving end of his father's wrath. She was even more sure when she met Lucius's eyes, still untrusting and gleaming with displeasure masked with indifference.

"But Draco, you've only been resting for... not even an hour now," said the blonde woman. She frowned, stroking Draco's cheek. "Rest more, and you can go tomorrow."

"I wanted to go today, mum. There's a new edition of Quidditch Kit that's supposed to come out today, and it's limited."

Narcissa sighed. "Your father and I can go instead, Draco."

"No," came the clipped voice of Lucius. "You also need your rest, Narcissa."

"Honey, I'm not even showing yet."

"No." That was final, if his glum expression was showing anything. "I would prefer you to take care of yourself and the baby."

"I can take Noodey," said Draco. "The four of us would be safe."

Narcissa looked ready to protest, but Theo quickly offered, "I'll ask my elf to accompany us too, Mrs Malfoy. Really, you should rest."

"You deserve it more than Draco does," grinned Pansy. "It'd be amazing to see a baby being born. For that, you need the most rest you could get, my mum said."

"And your mother is a wise woman," agreed Lucius. He wrapped his arm around his wife's shoulders, escorting her to slowly rise from the seat and turn her to the direction of the manor. "I think Draco is old enough to go to town without us."

Draco nodded. "Rest, mother. You don't have to worry, we were going to go anyways. Now we have the elves with us for more safety."

Narcissa gave him a stern look. "You may go, Draco, but no venturing into Knockturn Alley, or you'll hear about it."

"Yes mother," said Draco in his usual bored drawl. "Could we go now?"

"May," Hermione corrected with a small voice.

" _May_ we?" He rolled his eyes.

Smiling, Narcissa dusted a lint off his shoulder. "Yes, yes you may. Be back before sunset, though."

"Don't worry Mrs Malfoy," Pansy said. "We have Hermione with us."

"Yeah, and 'Mione's the best person to rely on," said Theo.

Hermione blushed at the straightforward compliments, and nodded. "We'll make sure to come back before dark."

When Noodey, the male elf, came back to the backyard to clean up the remnants of the tea session, he was extremely delighted to be honored the chance of escorting the Little Master and his friends. He was so excited that he fell face-flat to the grass, almost breaking the teacups.

Hermione whipped her head around, hoping Lucius hadn't seen that. Thankfully, the parents had gone inside the house, much to Hermione's relief. After retrieving their individual money purses and summoning Pinky, the four Slytherins left, leaving loud snaps behind in the air.

From the high window, Narcissa watched as Lucius wrapped his arms around her from behind. She held onto his hand on her shoulder, mindlessly stroking his fingers as she continued to stare out of the window.

"I was concerned at first, to be honest-" Narcissa began, uncertainty in her voice. "When I heard a mudbl- no, a _muggle-born_ witch had been accepted within Draco's social circle, I'd been extremely worried."

"And?" Lucius probed, encouraging her to continue.

"And now I'm glad she was sorted in there. Did you see how she lept into saving Draco without a moment of hesitation? Even I had been frozen for a while," she admitted with guilt. "Look how he actually takes what she says into account, instead of ignoring her like he does with other mudb- muggle-borns."

"Yes," he nodded, preferring to run his hands down her hair in a soothing gesture.

"But you still don't like her, don't you?"

Lucius sighed. "Cissy, it is hard to change the opinions on others with events of one hour, nor do I wish to. While I'm thankful for her contribution, it does not imply I am open to downgrading existences."

"But you will be civil," warned Narcissa. "Won't you?" She let her eyes narrow towards her stomach, stressing her pregnancy. "I don't want my baby to grow up hating the lifesaver of his or her brother."

"...I will," he replied after a long pause. "I cannot promise my hostility to her, but I shall try. But don't you worry about those things, center your attention to the baby."

Narcissa gave him a grin, turning around in his grasp to wind her arms around his waist. "Lucy-"

He growled softly, in a harmless warning.

"Lucy," she said again, wearing a even more slitted smile at his dislike of his nickname. "I love you," she whispered.

He responded by giving her a string of light kisses on her cheek.

* * *

"Theo," Draco said as they waited in front of a shop, "I think you owe me two galleons."

Theo gave him an exaggerated face of disbelief. "What! No, we owe each other one galleon each."

Draco looked at his own reflection on the shop window to make sure his hair was still slicked back, just the way he liked. "No, you bet that _they_ would take at least an hour." He pointed his thumb back to Hermione who had just dragged Pansy into Amanuensis Quills, to purchase some new quills for their approaching school year. " _She_ took less."

"Prove it," Theo stuck his tongue out. "You were helplessly in the lake, begging for me to save you-"

"If it had been over an hour, I wouldn't be here now," Draco deadpanned. "Pansy didn't come out till much later, and we both know she takes _over_ an hour."

"Fine," said Theo, disappointed that he couldn't get away from the bet. It wasn't much about the money, but rather the whole fun of escaping the bet without being noticed. With a sigh, he took out the two gold coins.

Draco snickered, pocketing the money. He began to look around for what he wanted to buy. The talk about the limited edition Quidditch Kit was of course, a complete lie, created from the spur of the moment.

He didn't know why he had lied, he definitely did not fancy the know-it-all. He had considered the possibility, but he knew what the emotion felt like, and what he felt for Granger wasn't it. Still, he supposed he had taken one for the team, understanding that any extreme change of mood for the bookworm wasn't beneficial to all of them.

Yes, that must be it.

Or maybe something similar to friendship. But he doubted it. They were just housemates who happened to have mutual friends. They weren't friends, by any loose definition.

"Malfoy," the know-it-all-bookworm called to him. He turned, already knowing where she wanted the four of them to go next.

Wordlessly, he turned and walked towards Flourish and Blotts, grumbling how _of course_ , the bookworm _would_ want to visit her homeland- the book store.

He sighed. It would be yet another long year of Theo's jokes, Pansy's complains, and Granger's _Hogwarts: A History_ quotes.

Merlin, he couldn't _wait_ for the first of September.

* * *

 **AN:** This was somewhat of a filler chapter- and also the longest chapter so far. Felt like you readers deserved it, after so many long days of wait. Lucius and Narcissa were portrayed a bit differently from what I originally planned, but I like to think they were madly in love with each other. So you'll see more of Lucy x Cissy actions in the future. HOPE YOU ENJOYED!


End file.
